Canada Reports First BSE Case In Six Years

Canada reported a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an eight-and-a-half-year-old beef cow, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) confirmed. The cow originated in the province of Alberta and is the first case of BSE in Canada in six years.

As a precaution, South Korea announced it has suspended beef imports from Canada. The fourth-largest beef importer in the world, South Korea said it is seeking more information before lifting its suspension.

Patrick Girard, spokesman for Canada’s Food Inspection Agency, said no other countries have said they are considering trade action. Canada is the world’s eighth-largest beef exporter.

Alberta Agriculture Minister Nate Horner said the newly discovered BSE case is atypical and presents no risk to human health and is not transmissible. Horner said in a statement that he does not expect the case to affect the market and said the quick detection demonstrated that inspectors and producers were dedicated to keeping the disease out of Canada’s cattle herd.

The OIE has reported that on December 6, 2021, a private veterinarian visited a farm reporting that an eight-and-a-half-year-old beef cow that was injured and displaying some neurological signs.

Samples were taken as part of the national surveillance program for BSE in Canada. Rapid tests conducted at the provincial laboratory in Edmonton, Alberta were non-negative which was reported to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The results were confirmed by CFIA’s OIE BSE reference laboratory in Lethbridge, Alberta on December 16, 2021 as an Atypical (H-type) case of BSE.

The carcass was held and did not enter the human food or animal feed chains.

The OIE said the detection of atypical BSE in Canada underscored the ongoing effectiveness of Canada’s robust targeted BSE surveillance program.

“Canada continues to have in place an enhanced feed ban that includes strict controls for the exclusion of specified risk materials from the entire animal feed chain and fertilizers,” the OIE report said.