July 3, 2006

US will not ban Canadian beef in event of BSE confirmation

The US has no intention to ban Canadian beef or cattle in the event Canada confirms another case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, US Department of Agriculture spokesman Ed Loyd said Friday (Jun 30).

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced earlier Friday a possible new BSE discovery. The CFIA said it will likely be sometime next week before it can confirm the preliminary test results.

Loyd said USDA "will not draw conclusions about this case until Canada has confirmatory test results," but also added that USDA has a "high level of confidence" in Canada's ability to keep its beef safe from BSE.

"We've said very publicly from the beginning that as we worked with Canada in opening our markets, we anticipated there would be additional cases of BSE," Loyd said.

The USDA banned all Canadian beef and cattle in May 2003 after Canada announced its first native-born case of BSE. Shortly afterward, USDA began allowing in Canadian beef back in, but did not ease its ban on cattle until 2005.

The USDA lifted its ban on Canadian cattle under 30 months of age in Jul 2005, and is now working on a new federal rule that would allow older cattle into the US.

Canada has found four other cattle infected with BSE since that first case in May 2003.