New case of mad cow disease confirmed in Canada

Since its first discovery in 2003, Canada confirmed an 11th case of mad cow disease on Tuesday.

Photo: New case of mad cow disease confirmed in Canada

New case of mad cow disease confirmed in Canada

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said no part of the cow's carcass entered the human food or animal feed chains.

The animal was identified by the national monitoring program as a 13-year-old cow from Alberta. The program targets cattle most at risk and has tested about 190,000 animals since 2003.

The animal, from an unidentified farm, was born before the implementation of Canada's feed ban in 1997.

"This detection confirms the ongoing high level of commitment and stewardship on the part of Canadian cattle producers to food safety and animal health," the CFIA said in a statement, saying it did not expect the latest discovery to affect Canada's international standing as a country with a controlled risk for BSE.

It is expected that a small number of cases would be detected over the next 10 years as Canada progresses toward its goal of eliminating the disease from the national cattle herd, the agency said.

Mad cow disease has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease that has been blamed for more than 150 human deaths, mostly in Britain.

There have been three cases of mad cow disease in the U.S., one of which stemmed from a cow imported from Canada.