Mad cow disease has been discovered again in Canada for the 14th time since 2003.

Canadian food safety officials announced Aug. 15 that the disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was found in a six-year-old beef cow in Alberta.

Scientists believe there is a strong relation between BSE and a rare, degenerative fatal brain disorder in humans called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Consumption of contaminated beef is thought to be a way for contracting the later disease.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the contaminated cow was not a human threat because the animal didn't reach the food supply. The government is monitoring the animal's herd to determine how it became infected. BSE causes small spongy holes in the brain.

Earlier, the Canadians banned the feeding of animal materials to livestock, which is thought to increase the risk of BSE. The country expected some cases of mad cow to materialize after the ban.

Monday, the Billings-based cattle association R-CALF said Canadian claims about the safety of the country's beef were "absurd and in the extreme" because nine of the cattle diagnosed with mad cow were born after the Canadian feed ban.