Animals > Animal Diseases > Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy  

CHRONOLOGY OF BSE EVENTS

1978 - Canada prohibits the import of meat and bone meal (MBM) from countries other than the United States due to concerns about Foot and Mouth and other serious diseases of livestock.

1982 - (to 1990) - Canada imported cattle from the UK.

1986 - BSE was first documented in the UK.

1988 - Importation of meat meal, bone meal, and blood meal were officially banned from all countries except the US

1990 - BSE was designated a reportable disease under the Health of Animals Act.

1990 - Canada prohibited further importation of cattle from the UK (a total of 191 animals had been imported from the UK during the period 1982 - 1990).

1990 - Canada places UK origin cattle under an animal health monitoring program.

1992 - The National BSE surveillance program was implemented.

1993 - A cow imported from the UK that was in the monitoring program initiated in 1990 was confirmed infected with BSE.

1994 - All remaining UK cattle imports were either returned to the UK, or were euthanized. All tested negative for BSE.

1996 - World Health Organization recommended that all countries implement feed bans.

1997 - Canada and the United States implemented their respective mammalian protein feed bans (with some exceptions) as a precautionary measure in response to WHO recommendations. CFIA amended its National Feed Inspection Program to include the mammalian-to-ruminant feed ban regulations, which targeted renderers, feed manufactures, feed retailers and farms in order to verify compliance with the regulations.

2000 - CFIA suspended the importation of all rendered animal protein products, of any species, from any country that Canada did not recognize as free of BSE.

2001 - The creation of a Canadian Cattle Identification Program was instituted for cattle and bison, enhancing our ability to trace individual animals from the herd of origin to slaughter.

2003 - In May, Canada detected the first case of BSE in a cow born and reared in this country.

2003 - In July, Canada amended the Health of Animals Regulations and the Food and Drug Regulations to remove Specified Risk Material (SRM) from the human food supply.

2003 - In December, BSE was confirmed in a cow in Washington State that was imported from Canada.

2004 - In January, Canada announced enhanced BSE surveillance program.

2004 - In December, Canada proposed strengthening the feed ban by requiring all Specified Risk Material (SRM) to be removed from all animal feed.

2005 - On January 2 and 11, respectively, two additional cases of BSE were confirmed in indigenous Canadian cattle.

2005 - Minister Mitchell announces six measures in response to BSE:

1. detailed feed investigation relating to the January 11 case;
2. CFIA-led review of Canada’s feed ban;
3. commitment to move forward with enhancements to the feed ban;
4. launch of an international outreach program to promote the effectiveness of Canada’s BSE safeguards;
5. continued collaboration with industry and provinces; and
6. renewed commitment to support sectors affected by BSE through the Repositioning Strategy.

2005 - Fall, after extensive consultation with provinces and industry stakeholders the proposal to strengthen the animal feeding ban was finalized.

2005 - In December, Canada implemented revisions to the BSE import policy to bring it in line with current international guidelines.