Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Canada confirmed the 15th case of mad-cow disease discovered in the country since May 2003, this time in a dairy cow from British Columbia.

No part of the seven-year-old cow got into systems that produce food for consumption by either people or animals, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said today in a statement. The agency has identified where the animal was born and is looking for the source of its disease, the statement said.

``The age and location of the infected animal are consistent with previous cases detected in Canada,'' the agency said. Regulators are also tracking down other animals in the cow's herd when it was born, the agency said. Testing for the disease began in 1992 in Canada, and was broadened in 2003, according to the Canadian regulator's Web site.

In 1997, Canada and the U.S. banned the use of cattle feed containing ground-up cow tissue, which scientists say is the way most animals contract the brain-wasting infection. As in other recent cases in Canada, the sick cow was born after the ban.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise known as BSE or mad-cow disease, has been linked to more than 150 human deaths worldwide. Eating meat from BSE-infected animals has been tied to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an incurable human illness that destroys brain tissue.

Last year, the U.S. eased most restrictions on Canadian beef and cattle after determining the animals pose ``minimal risk'' for mad-cow disease. The U.S. has confirmed three cases of the disease since December 2003, including one in an animal born in Canada.

Korean Trade

South Korea, which banned imports on Canadian beef after a BSE discovery in May 2003, resumed trade negotiations with Canada on Nov. 3. Korea was once the fourth-largest foreign buyer of Canadian beef, accounting for C$50 million ($40.8 million) in annual sales, the food agency said on Nov. 10.

Korean officials will visit Canadian beef slaughterhouses next week as planned, said Connie Argue, an animal-health program manager for the food agency. The new BSE case shouldn't affect trade talks with South Korea or relationships with other trading partners, Argue said in a telephone interview from Calgary, Alberta.

``They've been advised of the detection of this case, but to the best of our knowledge, there will be no changes in our status among our trading partners,'' Argue said. ``We don't expect the detection of this case to have any impact on trade.''

Canada is the largest foreign supplier of beef to the U.S., according to the Department of Agriculture. The U.S. bought 629.6 million pounds of beef from Canada in the first nine months of this year, 1.7 percent more than in the same period last year, the USDA said Nov. 13.

Cattle futures for February delivery fell 1.65 cents, or 1.8 percent, to 89.025 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange today. Futures have dropped 4 percent this month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 17, 2008 18:02 EST