Canada weighing its response to possible outbreak of mad cow in U.S.

OTTAWA (CP) - Federal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller huddled with officials Tuesday evening as Ottawa absorbed the news its largest trading partner may have been hit by a case of mad cow disease.

Speller, who couldn't be immediately reached for reaction, has been Canada's minister of agriculture for only 10 days. Still, U.S. authorities notified his office "with a head's up that this was happening" late Tuesday afternoon as U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman publicly announced that country's first-ever case of mad cow disease was suspected.

The case is thought to involve a single cow in Washington state.

A single case of mad cow in Alberta last May led to rapid border closures to Canadian beef exports, devastating the industry, particularly in Western Canadian provinces.

The crisis has abated since September, when the United States began accepting some boneless beef cuts. Since then, more than 60,000 tonnes of beef have moved into the United States and Mexico - all from animals under 30 months of age, which are believed at lower risk of contracting the brain-wasting disease.

Closing Canada's border to U.S. beef exports as well as live cattle, which at times graze in southern reaches of Prairie provinces, is one possibility federal officials were weighing Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Veneman hastened to assure American consumers that the meat they buy is safe.

"We remain confident in the safety of our food supply," said Veneman.

Consumers in both Canada and the U.S. should be reassured that the food inspection system is sound, said former federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief.

"It's not a situation as it was a few years ago over in the United Kingdom where there was an estimate of up to two million animals (with the disease) that had been in the system over a period of time," said Vanclief, who was federal minister during the height of Canada's mad cow crisis.

"Things have moved, the science has advanced since that time and people can be very, very comfortable that the system in both Canada and the United States can detect this type of situation and keep the product out of the food chain."

Veneman told a news conference a single Holstein cow that was either sick or injured - thus never destined for the U.S. food supply - tested presumptively positive for the brain-wasting illness.