A potential case of mad cow disease has been identified in a cow from Canada's western province of Alberta, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said on Monday.

The animal was born after 1997 when Canada imposed a ban on the type of feed associated with the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), CFIA said in a press release.

The four-year-old dairy cow died on a farm and did not enter the human or animal food systems, according to the release.

"This detection is consistent with a low level of disease and does not indicate an increased risk of BSE in Canada," said the release.

The federal agency will segregate and test cattle born on the same farm within a year of the animal.

Samples have been sent to the national microbiology laboratory in Winnipeg for testing. Preliminary screening tests could not rule out BSE.

Canada has had six cases of cattle infected with BSE out of an estimated national herd of 17 million cows. But two of the cases involved animals that were infected after the initial feed ban was implemented in 1997.

Source: Xinhua