The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed late Thursday that a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a beef cow from Alberta.
No part of the animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems, CFIA reports.
This is Canada’s first confirmed case of BSE since 2011 and was detected through the national BSE surveillance program. BSE is a progressive, fatal neurological disease in cattle.
The agency has launched an investigation and is working with provincial and industry partners. As part of the investigation, the CFIA is seeking to confirm the age of the animal, its history and how it became infected. The investigation will focus in on the feed supplied to the animal during the first year of its life. The agency will also trace out all animals of equivalent risk and have them destroyed and tested for BSE.
Canada remains a “controlled BSE risk” country as recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health and this case should not affect current exports of Canadian cattle or beef.
In 2003 a case of BSE was discovered on a farm and as a result, the countries closed their borders to Canadian beef. The Canadian cattle industry has been rebuilding ever since.
BSE is thought to spread when cattle eat feed containing protein rendered from brains and spines of infected cattle and sheep. The practice was banned in 1997 and in 2007 the CFIA tightened feed rules to help eliminate the disease in Canada within 10 years.