Canadian officials have accused their American counterparts of jumping the gun in announcing at the weekend that an animal found suffering from BSE on a farm in Washington state had necessarily entered the United States from Canada.

Tensions between the two countries grew when it was revealed that Canada had been given just one minute's warning before American officials held a news conference on Saturday asserting that a ranch in Alberta had been the source of the infected cow.

Dr Ron DeHaven, the US Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian, said Canadian records indicated the sick Holstein was among 74 cattle shipped from Alberta, Canada, into the US in August 2001. The announcement last week of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the US led to a freezing of 90 per cent of America's beef export markets.

The suggestion that the cow came from Alberta, instead of from a herd in the US, cheered the American beef industry. The National Cattlemen's Association said it should be enough to allow other nations to reverse their ban on American beef.

But Dr Brian Evans, the chief veterinary officer of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said that the cow's origins have yet to be confirmed. He noted that details on the cow's records in the US do not match those kept in Canada, particularly concerning its age.

Dr Evans cautioned against "a premature conclusion that the definitive animal or definitive birthplace has been located". He continued: "What we're suggesting is that we need to verify, using scientific methods such as DNA, that the animal that left Canada with that ear tag is in fact the animal that the US is pursuing at this point."

US investigators said yesterday that meat cut from the sick cow was sent to four more American states - Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana - and to the territory of Guam.

But Dr Kenneth Petersen, an Agriculture Department veterinarian, stressed, though, that the parts most likely to carry the infection - the brain, spinal cord and lower intestine - were removed before the meat from the infected cow was cut and processed for human consumption.

Meanwhile, Howard Dean, the leading Democrat contender for the White House, attacked President George Bush for not moving faster to establish a system of tracking the origins of animals in the United States, particularly after Canada found its first case of mad- cow disease in May.

"This just shows the complete lack of foresight by the Bush administration once again," said Mr Dean. "This is something that easily could be predicted and was predicted."

© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

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