| Canada Bans Beef Products from Brazil |
 |
Keeping Mad Cow Disease out of CanadaDateline: 02/05/01
Canada has temporarily suspended the import of beef food products from Brazil, and has issued a health hazard warning advising the public not to eat imported products containing Brazilian beef. These products include corned beef, beef extract and sliced beef in jelly.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease attacks the nervous systems of cattle. The human version of the disease is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), and a variant - vCJD - has been linked with eating UK beef and beef products infected with mad cow disease during the 1980s and 90s, before control measures were put in place. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is being extremely vigilant in light of a recent UN report that warns about the threat of BSE spreading beyond Europe.
This ban on Brazilian beef products is a precautionary measure only. There have been no cases of mad cow disease reported in Brazil, but Brazil has admitted that it imported cattle from Europe as recently as 1999. Canada's policy is to only import animals and animal products from countries that are recognized as free of BSE. Unlike other countries, Brazil has not provided the information requested on its importation activities and domestic animal health to allow Canada to assess Brazil's BSE status.
Canada does not import fresh or frozen beef from Brazil.
Canada has had only one case of a cow infected with BSE. That was in 1993 in a cow imported from Britain. The animal and its small herd were destroyed by Agriculture Canada.
All cattle imported from Britain between 1982 and 1990, when beef imports from Britain were banned in Canada, were destroyed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, along with their offspring. The owners were compensated by the federal government. In 1996, imports of British beef embryos and semen were also suspended.
In January, Health Canada announced that it is also studying the possibility that mad cow disease could exist in beef byproducts that are used in vaccines and cosmetics.
