Feb 08, 2013In 2003, the discovery of a sick cow diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow disease," led to the slaughter of thousands of cattle, as well as a ban on imports of Canadian cattle and beef from the United States, Japan and other nations. In 2006, the Canadian government took a stringent approach to tracking all cattle and preventing the spread of diseased animals, requiring ranchers to identify each cow with RFID ear tags. I...