The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed a new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an approximately six-year-old cross-bred cow that was born and raised in the province of Alberta. No part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed systems.

According to a press statement, this finding was not unexpected and was identified through the country’s national surveillance programme, which targets cattle at highest risk of being infected with BSE. The programme has tested more than 87,000 animals since Canada's first BSE case in 2003 and the geographic location and age of this animal are consistent with the three domestic cases previously detected.