Possible mad cow disease case in Alberta -CFIA

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – The Canadian Food Inspection
Agency is testing an Alberta cow for mad cow disease after
preliminary tests failed to rule out the disease, the agency
said on Monday.

If the 50-month-old dairy cow tests positive for the
brain-wasting disease, it will be Canada’s seventh case since
2003.

The animal died on a Western Canadian farm and no part of
the carcass entered the human food or animal feed supply, the
CFIA said.

The cow was identified through a surveillance program for
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow
disease, the agency said in a statement.

The animal was born after Canada’s 1997 feed ban, when the
inclusion of protein from ruminants such as cattle and sheep
was prohibited from cattle feed. The disease is believed to be
spread by contaminated feed.