The purpose of the top-up program is to assist British Columbia and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) attain the required level of BSE surveillance, nationally and for British Columbia, specifically.

The objectives of BSE surveillance are:

• To continue to evaluate the prevalence of BSE and confirm the extremely low level of the disease in Canada.
• To monitor the effectiveness of various BSE disease control measures currently in place over time.
• To maintain confidence amongst domestic and international consumers in the safety of our beef products through the quality of results of our surveillance program.

This program is a top-up to money received from the CFIA to reimburse a portion of disposal costs for carcasses, when samples are submitted to the National BSE Surveillance Program. The program will provide a payment of $100 per eligible animal.

Eligible animals are dairy or beef animals accepted for payment under the CFIA National BSE Surveillance Program. The program will pay on a maximum of 525 dairy animals and 1,575 beef animals during the 2006 calendar year. If the program administration receives more applications than the maximum number of animals in each category, payments will be made based on the date the application is received.

The BC Agriculture Council administers the program with guidance provided by a committee of dairy and beef producers and government representatives.

Instructions:

Download and complete the form in the details section and mail it or fax it to the BC Agriculture Council at the following address:

BC Agriculture Council
140 - 32160 South Fraser Way,
Abbotsford, BC
V2T 1W5
Phone: (604) 854-4483 or toll free at 1-866-522-3447
Fax: (604) 854-4485

To qualify for a payment producers must provide a copy of the CFIA cheque stub indicating participation in the National BSE Surveillance Program.

Eligibility:

An eligible producer is one who:

Was in lawful possession of the animal(s) presented for sampling
Under the Income Tax Act (Canada) or the British Columbia Company Act  would be liable to pay BC income tax or corporate tax or claim losses from income from production of cattle in British Columbia.

Eligible animals:
Animals that have qualified for the CFIA BSE Surveillance Program

Program Payments:

Producers are eligible for a payment of $100 per animal accepted by CFIA for the National BSE Surveillance Program.