Ritz: Latest BSE case won’t harm trade

Mad cow disease has been confirmed in a beef cow on an Alberta farm, but the federal agriculture minister said the discovery won’t affect Canada’s international beef trade.

“We have a very fulsome testing procedure. We don’t change from our controlled risk status … so we don’t see this interfering with any of our trade corridors at this time,” Gerry Ritz said Friday after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed the case.

Canada works under international protocols that allow for up to a dozen cases a year of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, Ritz said in Calgary.

“We have stayed well below that.”

Alberta did initial testing on the cow and Ottawa was informed a few days ago, Ritz said. The CFIA followed up with further tests.

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The agency said no part of the animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems.

It’s the first case to be reported in Canada since 2011.

Ritz said the infected animal was not born on the farm where it was discovered. The CFIA said it is still trying to determine the cow’s history and how it became infected.

“The investigation will focus in on the feed supplied to this animal during the first year of its life,” the agency said in a release. “The agency will also trace out all animals of equivalent risk. Equivalent risk animals will be ordered destroyed and tested for BSE.”

It says Canada continues to be designated a “controlled BSE risk” country by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Saskatchewan producer reacts to BSE news

Kathleen Quiring raises cattle with her husband just north of Saskatoon.

While she described the BSE case in Alberta as ‘disappointing,’ she said that ultimately, it’s a sign protocols brought in after the disaster of 2003 are working.

“Im thankful that the CFIA is doing their job. I really do feel that way. Excellent,” she said.

Quiring said she understands skepticism out there around the government’s role in food safety.  But when it comes to mad cow, she said Ottawa has gotten it right.

“I never used to be someone who was so gung-ho government. But I saw what the Canadian government did after mad cow hit and basically destroyed our industry in 2003. I was leaning on them to protect us, to help us and to get us through that mess. So I’m a different person than I was in 2003 when this all broke out,” she said. 

She also pointed to the World Organisation for Animal Health guidelines.

“They monitor mad cow globally and a country is allowed a few cases a year, because they recognize that we need to eradicate this globally and it takes time. And we fall well below their guidelines,” she said.

In the meantime, Quiring said she hopes consumers aren’t put off by the latest case.

“I think we’re always afraid of that.  But I think… if they do their homework, they’ll see that there’s nothing to fear, that there’s nothing to worry about,” she said.

-With files from The Canadian Press

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