May 3, 2007

Canada confirms tenth mad cow case

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has verified the tenth case of mad cow disease in the country which was found on a dairy cow in British Colombia in the country's far west.

The CFIA said in a statement the infected six-year-old cow was likely afflicted with mad cow disease, or

bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in its first year of life.

The agency said the animal's carcass is under CFIA under control and has not entered the human food chain or animal feed systems.

The infection was the second reported case since the start of 2007 and the tenth since mad cow has plagued Canadian cattle in 2003.

The case was detected in the course of the government's ongoing inspection program, which has seen some 160,000 animals checked for mad cow since 2003.

CFIA said the surveillance results reflect an extremely low incidence of BSE in Canada.