BSE Meat Could Still Be slipping Into Food Chain
EDINBURGH - Mad cow disease may not be caused by rogue proteins – called prions – in the brain as previously believed, they say. The prions show that the animal is infected but researchers fear they may only be symptoms – not the cause of the disease....

Eurofins Genescan Forms Partnership With VLA In UK
UK - Concern for BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) has become a focal point of feed safety throughout the world.

NFU to Congress: Reject Rule on Canadian Border
WASHINGTON – National Farmers Union President Tom Buis, in a letter to members of Congress today, urged support for legislation to disapprove the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) final rule to expand cattle and beef trade from minimal risk reg...

BSE Measures Law Has Bark But No Bite
JAPAN - Meat from a cow temple, which is banned by law as a specified risk material, is suspected to have been taken out from a meat-processing center in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, but the violators will get off scot-free because the law does not provide...

R-Calf Rallies Against Canadian Cattle
WASHINGTON, D.C. – R-CALF USA recently sent a formal letter to each Member of Congress to ask that they co-sponsor and support Resolutions of Disapproval against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) plan to allow Canadian cattle over-30-months...

Senators Propose Resolution of Disapproval To Minimal Risk Rule For Cattle and Beef
US - Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced a Resolution of Disapproval in the United States Senate that, if passed, would express the U.S. Senate’s dissatisfaction with the USDA’s decision to expand the list of allowable beef and cattle imports from...

Money Coming To Great Falls Mad Cow Disease Centre
US - The McLaughlin Research Institute has secured some additional funding to be used in researching degenerative brain diseases.

IFA Welcomes EU Proposal to Reduce Cost Of BSE Testing
IRELAND - IFA national Livestock Chairman John Bryan this week welcomed the proposal from the EU Commission to increase the age limit for BSE testing from 30 months to 42 months of age. He said this will remove all prime beef cattle from the €20 per head...

ICSA Calls for Immediate Action to Phase Out BSE Testing
IRELAND - ICSA HAS met Minister Mary Coughlan to demand immediate action to phase out BSE testing.

Ritz Comments On USDA Minimal Risk Rule
OTTAWA – The Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, today issued this statement following the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) release of its final minimal risk rule on Bovine...

Irish BSE Butchers Ordered To Stop
IRELAND - FIVE butchers and a supermarket have been ordered to stop selling beef that was found to contain spinal parts that could transmit the fatal BSE infection.

Prion Find Brings Insights Into Brain-Wasting
EDMONTON - Researchers have discovered a new prion protein that could bring fresh insights into how brain-wasting disease develops in animals and humans.

Czech Vets Test 94,000 Cows For BSE, No New Case
PRAGUE - Czech vets have tested 94,000 cows for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) this year and have not found a single infected animal, the State Veterinary Administration told CTK today.

Untested Bullock Enters Food Chain
UK - The Food Standards Agency has been notified that meat from a bullock has entered the food chain without the required BSE test. The 26-months-old bullock had been slaughtered on farm following an injury.

South Korea's Suspension of US Beef Imports Concerns MCA
US - South Korea’s recent suspension of U.S. beef imports is disturbing news for cattle producers. The concern is not the lost market, but how the Cargill plant could miss such a large piece of BSE specific risk material (SRM) in a box of boneless beef....

Report Suggests Canada May Be Noncompliant With Minimal Risk Rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a formal letter sent today, R-CALF USA has asked Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to determine if Canada is in violation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Minimal Risk Region Rule (Final Rule) and explain to Canada...

Canadian Probe Of May Mad Cow Case
CANADA - Canada's 10th case of mad cow disease likely caught the deadly brain-wasting condition by eating contaminated feed, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on Wednesday.

Canadian cattle ban pushed
PORTLAND - A U.S. ranchers group made a last-ditch legal appeal yesterday for a ban on the import of Canadian cattle.

Justified caution on beef by-products
CANADA - Some Canadian stockmen and slaughterhouse operators say new federal rules on what can be fed to cattle are a "bureaucratic nightmare." But the "enhanced" regulations are fully justified by the urgent national interest in keeping our $4-billion-a-year...

Canada's New Animal Feed Regulations Come into Force
CALGARY - The Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister responsible for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), announced that effective today, certain cattle tissues that are capable of transmitting BSE, known as...