The discovery of BSE in a California dairy cow will be a non-event if it goes like recent cases, says an official with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
There was a flurry of e-mails and news stories immediately following the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement, and then quiet.
“Everyone realizes, yes, it’s not a big deal, they’ve got strong controls,” said John Masswohl, the CCA’s director of governmental and international relations.
Beef cattle markets were limit down April 24, the day of the announcement, but bounced back the following day. Two grocery stories in South Korea temporarily halted American beef sales, but the country did not close borders to American beef.
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“It just seems typical to me of what happened in the last couple cases. There was some attention and then in sober second thought realized there was no need to react,” said Masswohl.
It’s the fourth discovered and confirmed case of BSE in the United States and the first in six years. Three cases were discovered between 2003 and 2006.
There have been 18 discovered cases of BSE in Canada. The discovery of BSE in a northern Alberta beef cow in 2003 devastated the Canadian beef industry, and Canadian producers are only just recovering from the loss of markets and lower prices.
There were 29 cases of BSE worldwide last year, a dramatic decline since the 37,311 cases in 1992. The drop is directly attributed to feed bans, said the USDA in its news release.
The California dairy cow had a rare atypical BSE rather than the classical BSE. It is transmitted through the feed system. Since the 1990s, there have been more than 180,000 confirmed cases of BSE. Only about 60 are atypical cases, or variations of BSE.
“We are sharing our laboratory results with international animal health reference laboratories in Canada and England, which have official world animal health (OIE) reference labs,” the USDA said.
“These labs have extensive experience diagnosing atypical BSE and will review our confirmation of this form of the disease. In addition, we will be conducting a comprehensive epidemiological investigation in conjunction with California animal and public health officials and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).”
Masswohl said atypical BSE tends to be in older animals. Officials have not yet released the age of the dairy cow that tested positive for BSE at a rendering facility.
Masswohl said it is not uncommon to test animals at a rendering facility. Surveillance systems in Canada and the U.S. are designed to look for high-risk animals.
“It’s not about testing lots of animal, but the right ones.”
