The plan was on hold while authorities weighed the risk of importing older Canadian cattle, which carry a higher risk of having mad cow disease than younger animals.

On Friday, the department quietly sent its plan back to the White House for final consideration.

At issue is a ban on using cattle remains in cattle feed, the primary firewall against the spread of mad cow disease. The only known way for cattle to get the disease is by eating feed containing diseased cattle tissue, a practice largely outlawed in Canada and the United States in 1997.

In July, Canada discovered an infected cow born in 2002, five years after the ban went into effect.

The cow's age -- younger than previously infected animals -- suggests a shorter incubation period for the brain wasting disease, meaning it could have gotten a bigger dose of infection than other Canadian cases.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials have maintained that the incubation period in the cow was still within a normal range of three to eight years.

Canada's feed ban is even stricter than the feed ban in the U.S., which is under pressure from McDonald's and other food companies to strengthen its defenses. About 12 percent of the nation's beef is imported from other countries. Canada, accounting for nearly a quarter of those imports, shipped $1.2 billion worth of beef and veal to U.S. markets last year.

Canada found its first case of mad cow disease in May 2003, prompting the U.S. to impose blanket restrictions against Canadian cattle and beef. The first U.S. case of the disease was found in December 2003 in Washington State, in an infected cow from Canada.

Source: heraldextra.com