The French agriculture ministry confirmed mad cow disease in a cow in the Ardennes region, the first case in the country since 2011 and the third in Europe since 2015, reports Deutsche Welle.
In a statement, the agriculture ministry said the case was isolated to the farm in northeastern France and there was no danger to consumers. Mad cow disease, formally named bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a brain-wasting disease. Countries have toughened rules since mad cow was discovered in 1986 in Britain to eliminate the most common way for the disease to be spread, through infected feed. So-called atypical cases arise sporadically.
Canada will not block imports of French beef, reports Agence France-Presse. It said the Canadian Food Inspection Service evaluated the French beef inspection system and was confident the meat was safe to eat. “French authorities had said it was probable that countries which last year reopened their borders to French beef exports — Saudi Arabia, Canada, Singapore and Vietnam — would close them again, but that they only represented a small volume of exports,” said AFP.