The Canadian Food Inspection Agency may have hurt the beleaguered beef industry when it decided not to publicly report the latest case of BSE, says an industry official.
CFIA tests confirmed Canada’s 17th case of BSE in an Alberta beef cow in February, but federal officials told only people in the cattle industry, the chief provincial veterinarians in each province, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and various trading partners through their embassies.
The information was not posted on CFIA’s website or sent to media outlets until March 10, the day most reporters began calling CFIA about the case.
Last August, CFIA officials changed the way BSE and other farmed animal diseases were reported, but few people seemed to know about the changes.
Instead of sending out blanket notification to news media and the public about new BSE cases, the CFIA decided to post information on its website monthly.
CFIA spokesperson Dr. Connie Argue said the decision not to tell the public and media about the latest case when it happened was part of the new CFIA policy.
“Certainly our trading partners were informed,” she said.
Under the new policy, only new emerging diseases or diseases that affect the public are notified immediately.
“BSE is not unexpected,” Argue said.
Alberta Beef Producers general manager Rich Smith said he was told about BSE’s discovery in a 72-month-old Black Angus beef cow when it was confirmed Feb. 25.
When he never received media calls, Smith added, he thought it reflected a lack of interest.
While the first few cases of BSE created international publicity, the last dozen have barely rated a mention in newspapers. The perceived secretive nature of the latest case has put BSE back in the media spotlight.
“This could create a backlash, that’s for sure,” said Smith, who credits the industry’s openness and willingness to discuss new cases of BSE with strong consumer confidence in the industry.
“We now run the risk of creating a story because CFIA didn’t tell people. We run the risk of creating a story when there wasn’t one.”
Smith said he didn’t know that the CFIA had changed its policy to not report new cases of BSE.
R-CALF USA, an American cattle group that is fighting to stop Canadian cattle imports into the United States because of BSE, is using the policy change to support its arguments.
“The CFIA said the BSE-positive case was confirmed Feb. 25, 2010, which means the CFIA and all other governments who knew about this latest BSE case kept it a secret from the public for almost two weeks,” said R-CALF chief executive officer Bill Bullard.
“If we had not discovered this information, the public may never have known.”
The animal was detected as part of the national surveillance program. The birth farm has been identified and an investigation is underway.
Argue said CFIA planned to put the new information about BSE on its website as part of its new monthly reporting basis.
