The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said a 13-year-old beef cow was found to be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The animal's carcass is under CFIA control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems, the agency said in a release.

The sick cow was identified at the farm level by a national surveillance program, which has detected all BSE cases found in Canada. The program targets cattle most at risk and has tested about 190,000 animals since 2003.

The animal was born before the implementation of Canada's feed ban in 1997, the agency said.