MAD COW DISEASE

Canada confirms another case of mad cow

Canada confirmed mad cow disease in an animal on an Alberta farm Wednesday, the country's eighth case of a terminal ailment that has roiled its livestock industry. The latest case was found in a dairy cow between eight and 10 years of age, Canada's Food Inspection Agency said. The agency says exposure to the terminal disease likely occurred before or during the introduction of new feed regulations that were supposed to stop the spread of the disease. Last month, the U.S. suspended plans to increase imports of beef and cattle from Canada over concerns about an infected cow born in 2002, five years after Canada enacted safeguards against mad cow disease. George Luterbach, an animal scientist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said the latest cases should not have any repercussions with trading partners. "These cases are the result of a very robust surveillance program," Luterbach said. "These cases are very few and far between." Having tested 60,000 cattle last year, Luterbach said the agency is confident that mad cow is not a common in Canada or something that is growing. The Canadian Cattlemen's Association estimated its 90,000 members had lost more than $5.6 billion since 2003....

Latest Canada mad cow won't hurt US trade: USDA

Canada's latest case of mad cow disease will not affect its beef trade relations with the United States, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said on Wednesday. "I do not anticipate that this will change our trading relationship with Canada at all," Johanns told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Currently beef coming into the United States (from Canada) is from animals under 30 months old. There just isn't a risk there." The animal is Canada's eighth case of the disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), since the first native-born case in 2003. Johanns noted that while current trade would be unaffected, Washington had postponed plans to broaden imports from Canada to include beef products from animals older than 30 months....

U.S. Beef Still a Tough Sell in Wary Japan

It's been weeks since Japan ditched its import ban on U.S. beef and the first shipment went on sale, but American beef is nowhere to be seen at supermarkets here — except this nation's five Costco stores. Many Japanese are worried about the safety of U.S. beef, and retailers here say they aren't about to waste their time carrying an unpopular product. Instead, meat-section shelves are filled with domestic beef and cuts from Australia. Japan was once the top destination for U.S. beef, importing $1.4 billion worth a year. But that was before Tokyo's decision in December 2003 to ban American beef imports after the first reported case of mad cow disease in the U.S. The ban on American beef was eased in December 2005 but imposed again in January after prohibited spinal bones were found in a veal shipment — an error by U.S. plant workers and a government inspector who didn't realize that veal cuts with backbone, allowed in the U.S., were considered a risk for mad cow disease in Japan. That error was crucial, making consumers even more suspicious of U.S. meat. Kaori Watanabe, spokeswoman for Aeon Co., said the nation's top supermarket chain hadn't received a single call from customers asking for American beef. Aeon, which operates more than 300 food stores nationwide, often is deluged with requests for products, so that means there's no interest in American beef, she said....