A conceptual comparative analysis between the British and the Canadian mad cow crisis

Massive media coverage about the uncertainty, the lack of information, and what the announcement really meant for food and public safety overtook the political agenda of the British beef industry. [...] In May 2003, the discovery of the first native North American case of BSE in Canada deflated the prospects of the industry across the country, consequently creating unmanageable uncertainty. [...] Initially, some industry officials quickly denied the seriousness of the situation and the long-term impact it would have on the future of the industry. [...] In addition, by conceptually contrasting the two distinctive BSE events, the second objective will be to assess whether the British BSE event had any influence over Canadian public policies related to food safety prior to 20 May 2003, the day the announcement of the diagnosis of the first Canadian BSE case was made public by the CFIA.1 Crisis and Uncertainty Definition of a Crisis No universal def [...] Therefore, the conceptual analysis will be based on the events that occurred in Britain and Europe and will be compared to the events of the first 12 months of the Canadian BSE crisis.