Organic farmers in the US have been quick to take advantage of the current Canadian BSE scare.

"Organic meat is a true alternative for families concerned about feeding their children meat that may carry Mad Cow Disease," claimed George Siemon, founder of organic farm co-operative Organic Valley.

"Organic meat is made from animals that have been raised on a pure organic diet - nothing but organic feed and pasture. This means they are never fed rendered animal by-products that could have been contaminated with mad cow disease."

Indeed organic standards prohibit the feeding of any rendered animal by-products to any livestock - a practice that has been linked to the spread of the disease.

In addition, the meat must be produced without genetically modified ingredients, antibiotics, hormones in beef production, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or synthetic fertilizers.

mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE) is a fatal disease that causes progressive neurological degeneration in cattle.

It was first diagnosed in 1986 in Great Britain, where 95 per cent of the cases have occurred. The disease is not known to exist in the US.

Evidence indicates that humans may acquire Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rare disease similar to BSE, after consuming BSE-contaminated cattle products.

The Organic Valley Co-operative was established 15 years ago, and is today made up of more than 500 organic farmers in 17 states across the US.

Last year alone, the Organic Valley Co-operative acquired an additional 15,000 acres of land and achieved sales of $125 million (€107m).