Ridley Inc. and the Canadian Federal Government

A lawsuit has been filed and is seeking class action status on behalf of Canadian farmers. The case claims the multinational feed company knew how to prevent the spread of mad cow disease a decade before BSE showed up in Canadian cattle. The lawsuit alleges negligence and inaction led to the crisis that saw international borders closed to Canadian beef, costing Canadian farmers up to $20 billion. It has been known since the late 1980s that cattle are infected when fed parts of other cattle or sheep infected with the disease. When Canada's first case of BSE was discovered in May 2003, the US, Japan and dozens of other countries closed their borders to Canadian beef.