Mad cow disease reported in Canada

Officials say Alberta cow tests positive for the disease; U.S. bars beef imports from neighbor.

May 20, 2003: 1:35 PM EDT

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OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) - A cow in Canada has tested positive for mad cow disease in a test taken on Jan. 31, a Canadian Beef Export Federation official told Reuters Tuesday.

"It was (detected) just a few days ago. The actual test was taken Jan. 31 from a cow in Fairview, Alberta," the official said. "It's just one isolated case of an eight-year-old cow."

The United States has temporarily banned Canada meat imports after the report of the case, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday.

Veneman said in a statement that the United States would not accept any "ruminant products" from Canada until further notice. Ruminant products are from animals that chew their cud, including cattle and deer.

According to a U.S. cattle industry source, a herd has been impounded in northern Alberta because of suspicions of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease.

Alberta accounts for nearly 60 percent of Canada's beef production. There are 5.5 million head of cattle in the western province.

Beef cattle production is Alberta's largest agricultural sector providing C$3.8 billion ($2.8 million) in annual farm cash receipts, Alberta Agriculture data shows.

Some 511,656 head of live cattle were shipped from Alberta to the U.S. in 2002, Alberta Agriculture said.

Speculation about the case sent restaurant stocks that specialize in beef lower. Among them are McDonald's (MCD: down $0.87 to $17.29, Research, Estimates), Wendy's International (WEN: down $0.67 to $29.89, Research, Estimates) and Outback Steakhouse (OSI: down $1.02 to $35.60, Research, Estimates).