2009

Canada confirms 16^th BSE case (5/15/2009)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an 80-month-old dairy cow from Alberta. No part of the animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems.

Study describes first known in vivo function of PrP (3/10/2009)

For over twenty years, scientists have known that a normal protein in the brain, PrP, or prion protein, can turn harmful and cause deadly illnesses like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. What they could not explain is why large amounts of this normal protein are produced by our bodies in the first place. In a new study published in PLoS Biology, researchers from the University Konstanz in Germany reveal that PrP indeed plays a beneficial role for the organism - PrP helps cells communicate with one another during embryonic development.

2008

Canada confirms its 15th case of BSE (11/18/2008)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a 7-year-old dairy cow from British Columbia. No part of the animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems.

Nanotechnology improves food safety by detecting prions (10/9/2008)

Currently, testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle is a lengthy process. With funding from USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) National Research Initiative (NRI), scientists in New York created a new device that may provide a faster, easier, and more reliable way to test for BSE.

International Trade Commission releases report, “Global Beef Trade: Effects of Animal Health, Sanitary, Food Safety, and Other Measures on U.S. Beef Exports” (10/8/2008)

The International Trade Commission (ITC) released a report estimating that trade restrictions resulting from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) cost the cattle industry $11 billion from 2004 to 2007. 

K-State professor’s USDA research shows mad cow disease also caused by genetic mutation (9/12/2008)

New findings about the causes of mad cow disease show that sometimes it may be genetic. 

"We now know it's also in the genes of cattle," said Juergen A. Richt, Regents Distinguished Professor of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

Canada confirms its 14th case of BSE (8/15/2008)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a six-year-old beef cow from Alberta. No part of the animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems.

BSE cases in E.U. plunge in recent years (7/17/2008)

Among the 10 million cattle tested each year in the first 15 countries to join the European Union (EU 15) cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy has dropped off dramatically since 2001. According to the European Food Safety Authority, the number of BSE cases detected in cattle in these countries fell from 2,164 in 2001 to 149 in 2007.

Canada confirms its 13th case of BSE (6/23/2008)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a cow in the Province of British Columbia. This case poses no risk to human or animal health since Canada’s stringent BSE safeguards prevented any part of the animal’s carcass from entering the human food chain or any potentially infective parts of the animal’s carcass from entering the animal feed chain. 

Canada confirms its 12th case of BSE (2/26/2008)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a six-year-old dairy cow from Alberta. The animal's carcass is under CFIA control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems.

Archive (2003 - 2007)