August 2, 2008

An official investigation into Canada's 12th case of mad cow disease since 2003 said infected feed was most likely to blame -- the same reason given in many previous cases.

The animal, a six-year-old dairy cow from Alberta, was identified in February 2008. Since then an additional case has been discovered in Canada.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a statement that the animal very likely was exposed to infected feed during its first year of life.

The CFIA brought in strict feed rules last year which it said should help eliminate the disease nationally within a decade. It says that until then, a handful of new cases are likely to appear.

Canada has been deemed a "controlled risk" country for mad cow disease by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) because of its surveillance and control measures.

Authorities said earlier that the detection of this case does not change any of Canada's risk parametres.

The location and age of the animal are consistent with previous cases, and the surveillance results to date, including this new case, reflect an extremely low level of mad cow disease in Canada, the CFIA said.