USDA bans Canada beef as precaution against “mad cow” disease

USDA bans Canada beef as precaution against “mad cow” disease

USDA bans Canada beef as precaution against “mad cow” disease

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture has banned all beef imports from Canada as a precaution against the spread of “mad cow” disease to the United States.

   U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman made the announcement after it was revealed by Canada’s Agri-Food Minister Lyle Vanclief on May 20 that an eight-year-old cow in Alberta tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The deadly neurological disease may be spread to humans by eating infected beef.

   Veneman said the case, so far, appears to be isolated. “Information suggests that risk to human health and the possibility of transmission to animals in the United States is very low,” she said in a statement.

   The USDA will dispatch a technical team to Canada to help with the investigation.

   The last reported case of mad cow disease in North America was discovered in 1993 in a British-born cow in Canada.

   Since the outbreaks in Britain in the late 1990s, the USDA has stepped up its testing of cows for the disease. In fiscal year 2002 alone, USDA tested about 19,900 cows.