Canada to beef up beef marketing after mad cow scare

OTTAWA - Canada pledged Thursday to spend 50 million dollars (41 million US) in an aggresive pitch for new markets for its beef, tainted by an outbreak of mad cow disease.
"The uncertainty created by the closure of many borders, including that of the United States to Canadian live cattle, makes it imperative that we accelerate our efforts to regain and expand our markets," said Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell in a statement.
Three cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have been discovered in Canada since 2003, prompting the United States, Japan and a number of other nations to ban or restrict imports of Canadian beef products and cattle.
The scare cost Canadian beef farmers billions of dollars, forcing the central government last year to unveil a bailout worth 370 million US dollars.

03/10/2005 16:40 GMT