Welcome to BSEinfo.ca

This website has information about “Mad Cow Disease” or BSE and the controls we have in Canada that protect Canadians from the disease.

The information on this website comes from scientific, factual information from the Government of Canada, through Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Each department plays a role in making sure Canadians are healthy and our food is safe.

Canadian beef is safe to eat.

Canada's food safety system makes sure that Canadian beef is safe to eat. In the federal inspection system all animals are examined by trained meat inspectors before they ever enter the food supply.

In Canada, a major control that protects our beef is the removal of Specified Risk Material or SRM. This means that when cattle are prepared for food, the parts of the cow most likely to contain BSE are removed and do not go into our food. This removes almost all of the risk (over 99%) that could be present if a cow has BSE.

By law, Specified Risk Material must be removed and destroyed when animals are slaughtered. This material is banned from the food chain.

Another control makes it illegal for cattle to be fed material that might spread BSE. (1997) This means that there are now very few animals that could be infected. There are also controls on importing cattle, beef and beef products from other countries (1990).

In 1992 Canada created a National BSE surveillance system which tests cattle to see if they have BSE.

These controls are based on the latest scientific knowledge and are designed to reduce the risk of BSE to an extremely low level. For more information about these controls, visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the safeguards section.

This site is brought to you by Canada's cattle producers through the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and the Beef Information Centre.