Choose Beef with Confidence
The current situation, in which one beef cow in Alberta has tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease, is evidence that Government of Canada’s national BSE surveillance system is working.
Canadian beef is safe for a number of reasons. This is an isolated incident. The animal never made it to the food chain. There is no evidence that BSE spreads horizontally, i.e., by contact between unrelated adult cattle or contact between cattle and other species. Risk of maternal transmission is very low.
Canada has put in place strong systems to stop the potential spread of BSE to other animals and to the human food chain. Since 1990, BSE has been a reportable disease and imports from BSE affected countries have been banned. In 1992, the government created a national BSE surveillance system. Since BSE is transmitted through feed made from infected animal tissue, Canada has banned the feeding of rendered carcasses of ruminants -- such as sheep, goats, cattle, deer and elk — to cattle. This eliminates the transmission of BSE and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) to other animals.
The risk of contracting vCJD from eating Canadian beef is extremely remote. The majority of Canadian beef comes from animals younger than 22 months of age. The onset of BSE, and its infectivity, does not occur at this age and accordingly experts agree that meat from these animals poses absolutely no significant risk to human health.
Even in an infected animal, skeletal muscle – those muscles used for support and locomotion – in products such as steaks, roasts, and products labelled as ground beef, pose little risk. The potentially infective parts – the spinal cord, brain and parts of the eye – are not found in skeletal muscle.
The Beef Information Centre supports the efforts of the Government of Canada, through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in tracing the origins of the infected animal, its herdmates and offspring. BIC will continue to share timely information as it becomes available with its partners in the industry. By working with foodservice, retailers, packer/processors, and health professionals, BIC continues to reach Canadians with the message that Canadian beef is safe.
