For the first time since 2011, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a cow. It says no part of the animal entered any human food or animal feed systems. A person eating contaminated beef can develop the fatal, neurodegenerative Creutzfeldt–Jakob disase.
The agency is investigating the history of the animal and how it came to be infected. It will also trace all animals “of equivalent risk.” Any such animals will be destroyed and tested for BSE.
The discovery is not expected to affect current exports of Canadian cattle of beef, says the agency.
Such exports were radically reduced in 2003 after the first case of the disease was found on a farm. Since then, Canada has strengthened its controls and many nations resumed the beef trade despite the discovery of sporadic cases since then.
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