Peru, Belarus and Taiwan have imposed a temporary ban on beef product imports from Canada, over the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreak.
Earlier this month, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the presence of BSE, which is known as mad cow disease, in one beef cow in Alberta.
The beef producing animal, which tested positive for BSE, was being raised on a farm in Edmonton, reported CBCnews.
CFIA was previously quoted by the publication as saying: "The CFIA is seeking to confirm the age of the animal, its history and how it became infected. The investigation will focus in on the feed supplied to this animal during the first year of its life."
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, consumption of tissue from animals infected with BSE may cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
South Korea has also banned imports temporarily, while Indonesia imposed temporary restrictions on some non-edible meat products.
Earlier in 2003, Canadian beef exports witnessed slump after the first case of BSE was found on a farm.
CFIA expected that the tightened feed rules in 2007 would eliminate BSE nationally within a decade. However, the agency also said it still expected to discover the occasional new case.
According to CFIA, Canada has been classified as controlled BSE risk country by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
In accordance with the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code, the detection of BSE cases will have no impact on Canada's current BSE risk status, if the country continues to meet the requirements for controlled risk.
The country must select live cattle for export by a permanent identification system, and the cattle selected for export are born after a feed ban was implemented.
