July 31, 2006

US puts on hold plan for increased Canadian beef imports

The Bush administration has halted plans to increase imports of beef and cattle from Canada as it deemed that the country's safeguards against mad cow disease were insufficient.

The Bush administration had been ready to expand beef trade with Canada, but the plan was put on hold while Canada investigate a recent case of mad cow disease, the department said.

Mad cow disease is believed to arise from cattle eating feed containing diseased cattle tissue. A ban on such feed has been on such feed had been in place since 1997. 

Canada's cow with mad cow disease was born in 2002, five years after the ban went into effect.