BSE Update Jan. 9-12 ...
BSE Update Jan. 9-12
USDA Maintains Ban On Canadian Cattle, Invites Lab Applications
On Friday, the USDA said at a press conference that no live cattle would be imported from Canada until the epidemiological investigation into the Washington State bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) case was concluded. In addition, the USDA is now accepting applications from companies wishing to undertake BSE testing in cattle, although the approval process for testing labs could be as long as six months or even a year.
A five-strong team from Japan began a nine-day visit to the U.S. and Canada last week. The USDA stresses that this is a fact-finding mission; the team will have discussions with U.S. officials concerning the new BSE regulations and visit Washington State. Japan will not lift its ban on beef imports from the United States before the team reports back to the agriculture and health ministries.
DNA evidence confirmed “with a high degree of certainty” that the BSE-positive cow found in the state of Washington was born on a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will kill a further 129 cattle out of 4,000 that were originally quarantined in Washington, USDA Chief Veterinarian Ron DeHaven said Friday. DeHaven said the USDA believes that some the cattle that were brought over from Canada together with the BSE-infected cow in 2001 are included in the 129 marked for destruction and testing. The USDA killed 450 bull calves last week, one of which was a progeny of the BSE-infected cow.
The Food Safety And Inspection Service (FSIS) last week (Jan. 8) issued four new rules to implement announcements made earlier by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman to further enhance safeguards against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
The policies to further strengthen protections against BSE, including the immediate banning of non-ambulatory (downer) animals from the human food supply can be read online.
The USDA is publishing a notice announcing that FSIS inspectors are no longer marking cattle tested for BSE as “inspected and passed” until confirmation is received that the cattle have, in fact, tested negative for BSE. FSIS will be issuing a directive to inspection program personnel outlining this policy.
With the filing of an interim final rule, FSIS is declaring that skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, vertebral column, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle 30 months of age or older and the small intestine of all cattle are specified risk materials, thus prohibiting their use in the human food supply. Tonsils from all cattle are already considered inedible and therefore do not enter the food supply.
The Food Safety And Inspection Service (FSIS) is also banning the practice of air-injection stunning to ensure that portions of the brain are not dislocated into the tissues of the carcass as a consequence of humanely stunning cattle during the slaughter process (interim final rule).
BSE Update Jan. 9-12
USDA Maintains Ban On Canadian Cattle, Invites Lab Applications
On Friday, the USDA said at a press conference that no live cattle would be imported from Canada until the epidemiological investigation into the Washington State bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) case was concluded. In addition, the USDA is now accepting applications from companies wishing to undertake BSE testing in cattle, although the approval process for testing labs could be as long as six months or even a year.
A five-strong team from Japan began a nine-day visit to the U.S. and Canada last week. The USDA stresses that this is a fact-finding mission; the team will have discussions with U.S. officials concerning the new BSE regulations and visit Washington State. Japan will not lift its ban on beef imports from the United States before the team reports back to the agriculture and health ministries.
DNA evidence confirmed “with a high degree of certainty” that the BSE-positive cow found in the state of Washington was born on a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will kill a further 129 cattle out of 4,000 that were originally quarantined in Washington, USDA Chief Veterinarian Ron DeHaven said Friday. DeHaven said the USDA believes that some the cattle that were brought over from Canada together with the BSE-infected cow in 2001 are included in the 129 marked for destruction and testing. The USDA killed 450 bull calves last week, one of which was a progeny of the BSE-infected cow.
The Food Safety And Inspection Service (FSIS) last week (Jan. 8) issued four new rules to implement announcements made earlier by Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman to further enhance safeguards against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
The policies to further strengthen protections against BSE, including the immediate banning of non-ambulatory (downer) animals from the human food supply can be read online.
The USDA is publishing a notice announcing that FSIS inspectors are no longer marking cattle tested for BSE as “inspected and passed” until confirmation is received that the cattle have, in fact, tested negative for BSE. FSIS will be issuing a directive to inspection program personnel outlining this policy.
With the filing of an interim final rule, FSIS is declaring that skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, vertebral column, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle 30 months of age or older and the small intestine of all cattle are specified risk materials, thus prohibiting their use in the human food supply. Tonsils from all cattle are already considered inedible and therefore do not enter the food supply.
The Food Safety And Inspection Service (FSIS) is also banning the practice of air-injection stunning to ensure that portions of the brain are not dislocated into the tissues of the carcass as a consequence of humanely stunning cattle during the slaughter process (interim final rule).