US to join Canadian mad cow investigation

By Marcy Nicholson

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – The Canadian Food Inspection
Agency confirmed on Thursday that an Alberta dairy cow had
tested positive for mad cow disease, an announcement that
raised enough concern in Washington for it to send an expert to
join the investigation.

“We need a thorough understanding of all the circumstances
involved in this case to assure our consumers that Canada’s
regulatory system is effectively providing the utmost
protections to consumers and livestock,” U.S. Agriculture
Secretary Mike Johanns said on Thursday.

“I am dispatching a USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
expert to participate in the investigation of this case,
particularly as it relates to how this animal may have been
exposed to BSE-infected material,” Johanns said.

“We have been assured by our Canadian counterparts that
they welcome having our experts participate side by side with
their investigators.”

The 50-month-old cow, which died on the Alberta dairy farm
where it was born, is Canada’s seventh mad cow case since 2003.
There have been three cases of mad cow disease, also known as
bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in the United States.

“One of the contributors to finding these cases is a very
robust surveillance program that is very targeted,” Canadian
Food Inspection Agency veterinarian George Luterbach said, when
asked why there were more mad cow cases in Canada than in the
United States.

Officials will now investigate other cows that were born at
the farm near Edmonton, Alberta, within a year of the diseased
cow, and have identified 170 “animals of interest,” Luterbach
said.

The affected animal’s carcass was incinerated and did not
enter either the human or animal food supply, according to the
food safety agency.

The Canadian and U.S. governments are working together to
establish a rule that will permit Canadian beef and cattle over
30 months old to be exported to the U.S. Currently, the U.S.
only permits imports of Canadian beef and cattle under 30
months old.

“We have full confidence that the CFIA will be able to
complete their investigation quickly in order to provide the
U.S. with the information that they need for the next rule to
proceed with as little interruption as possible,” said Hugh
Lynch-Staunton, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president.

The CFIA has not euthanized any cattle as a result of its
investigation and still must determine how many of the 170
birth cohorts, cattle born 12 months before and after the
affected cow, are on its birth farm. The farm now has 300 head
of cattle.

Some cohorts have likely been sold to other farms or have
left the food system, Luterbach said.

Contaminated feed is believed to spread BSE and the agency
has initiated a preliminary feed investigation.

“It’s four years after the fact so there were no samples of
feed on the farm,” Luterbach said.

(Additional reporting by Christopher Doering in Washington)