News & Events | BSE - FLASH | USDA Announces Second Inconclusive

BSE - FLASH

USDA Announces Second Inconclusive

Statement by Deputy Administrator Dr. John Clifford for APHIS - June 29, 2004

"At approximately 5:15 this evening, we were notified that an inconclusive BSE test result was received on a rapid screening test used as part of our enhanced BSE surveillance program.

"The inconclusive result does not mean we have found another case of BSE in this country. Inconclusive results are a normal component of screening tests, which are designed to be extremely sensitive so they will detect any sample that could possibly be positive.

"Tissue samples are now being sent to USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories-the national BSE reference lab-which will run confirmatory testing. Confirmatory testing is also still pending on the inconclusive test result announced June 25.

"The carcass has been accounted for and is not in the food supply.

"Because this test is only an inconclusive test result, and because of the chance the confirmatory results will be negative, we are not disclosing details specific to this test at this time.

"APHIS has begun internal steps to identify the animal to be prepared if further testing were to return a positive result.

"Confirmatory results are expected back from NVSL within the next 4 to 7 days, and we will announce the test results then. And, if the test comes back positive for BSE, we will of course provide additional information about the animal and its origin.

"USDA officials will hold a technical briefing the afternoon of June 30, on the USDA testing program.

"USDA remains confident in the safety of the U.S. beef supply. This animal did not enter the human food chain. Our ban on specified risk materials from the human food chain provides the protection to public health, should another case of BSE ever be detected in the United States.

"Screening tests are often used in both human and animal health and inconclusives are not unexpected. These tests cast a very wide net and many end up negative during further testing.

"And some subset of these animals may even turn out to be positive for BSE. While none of us wants to see that happen, that is not unexpected either. Our surveillance program is designed to test as many animals as we can in the populations that are considered to be at high risk for BSE. If we test 268,000 animals in the next 12 to 18 months, which we are fairly well on track to do-we will be able to find the disease if it occurs in as few as 1 in 10 million adult cattle with a 99 percent confidence level assuming that all of the positives are in the targeted high risk population. In other words, our program could detect BSE even if there were only five positive animals in the target population in the entire country.

"Additional measures to strengthen public health safeguards include the longstanding ban on imports of live cattle, other ruminants, and most ruminant products from high-risk countries; FDA's 1997 prohibition on the use of most mammalian protein in cattle feed; an aggressive surveillance program that has been in place for more than a decade; the banning of non-ambulatory cattle from the human food chain; the process control requirement for establishments using advanced meat recovery (AMR) systems; prohibiting the air-injection stunning of cattle; and, if an animal presented for slaughter is sampled for BSE, holding the carcass until the test results have been confirmed negative.

"In 2001 and again in 2003, Harvard University conducted an independent assessment that affirmed USDA's BSE control and prevention measures. This assessment further affirmed that even with one or more detections of BSE in this country, U.S. control efforts will minimize any possible spread of the disease and ultimately eliminate if from the U.S. cattle population."

REPEATING From Earlier In The Day

Inconclusive Test Result Shouldn’t Impact Talks Between Japan And U.S.

Discussions on reopening the Japanese market to U.S. beef should not be affected by Friday’s USDA announcement of an inconclusive test result for BSE in a U.S. animal.

“The announcement of an inconclusive result in an initial BSE test demonstrates that the U.S. surveillance system is transparent and working as planned,” commented USMEF President & CEO Philip Seng. “In its testing of domestic cattle, Japan has experienced many inconclusive results that ultimately proved negative.”

Representatives from Japan and the United States began three days of beef trade talks Monday in Colorado, and the inconclusive test result should not have any impact on them. After the next scheduled meeting, July 21-22, the two countries are expected to compile a report and reach a final conclusion “on the resumption of the importation of both American and Japanese beef,” according to USDA Undersecretary J.B. Penn.

Removing specific risk material (SRM) — skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, vertebral column, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle over 30 months of age and the distal ilium of the small intestine of cattle of all ages — from the food supply is the most important part of the U.S. BSE response program, since infectious agents are not found in muscle tissue or non-SRM organs. Another component of the program is the two-part test process. To test a significant number of targeted animals, the U.S. government's first step is a rapid screening test, which can produce inconclusive results as it did in this case. A sample is now being tested at the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. NVSL has the capability to use the gold standard immunohistochemistry (IHC) test to determine the presence of BSE. The results of this definitive test take 4-7 days.

Inconclusive Test Result Won't Disrupt U.S. Beef Exports To Mexico

Mexican lawmakers visiting Washington yesterday accepted that the inconclusive test result showed that the system is working and not that the U.S. had had a second BSE case. USMEF Director, Mexico Gilberto Lozano led the nine-strong team from Mexico’s House of Representatives in meetings with USDA officials yesterday. Lozano reports that the lawmakers were most concerned that agricultural exports in both directions should receive equal treatment. Today, the lawmakers will be briefed on the specific details of the U.S. BSE prevention program at Kent State University. Tomorrow, they visit a packing plant in Pennsylvania and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries, and Food Products (SAGARPA) announced on Monday that the border will remain open to U.S. beef.