February 21, 2007

Beijing confiscates Canadian beef on fear of mad cow disease

Beijing's animal health supervision officers have confiscated 60 cartons of beef from Canada which it said was possibly tainted by mad cow disease, according to a Chinese news media.

In an inspection tour to a warehouse of a wholesale center at Yuquanying, officers from the Beijing Animal Health Supervision Institute found a 2-tonne shipment of Canadian beef.

The cartons of beef with the label "produced in 2005 and 2006" had a market value of RMB 200,000 (US$25,000 US dollars), the Beijing Times reported. Canada reported a number of mad cow disease cases during this period.

China has banned Canadian beef since May, 2003.

The beef would be confiscated and be destroyed, said the supervision officers.

A shipment of Brazilian beef was seized in the same warehouse last December, the newspaper said.