USDA Changes Rules For “Inconclusives” | After a 60-day internal review o...

USDA Changes Rules For “Inconclusives”

After a 60-day internal review of testing procedures, USDA-APHIS announced Aug. 4 it will discontinue its policy of declaring BSE tests results to be "inconclusive" based on only one rapid screening test. Instead, the agency will instead wait to check the results against a second round of tests before such an announcement is made, according to Dr. John Clifford, APHIS chief veterinarian.

If either of the tests in the second run is reactive, APHIS will then announce the result as an inconclusive and will conduct confirmatory testing at National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. Clifford said the procedure is consistent with testing protocol in other countries.

A USDA spokesman described the rapid test in use is "designed to be used as a three-well test, and while we were always using all three wells, we had been announcing inconclusive results after the first.”

Since June 1, more than 28,000 rapid screening tests have been conducted. Of those samples, two were deemed "inconclusive" and were subsequently found to be negative.

U.S. – Australia FTA

On August 3, 2004, President Bush Aug. 3 signed the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act (H.R.4759). The agreement was approved by the House and Senate last month.The US-Australia FTA is expected to enter into force on January 1, 2005.

USDA Changes Rules For “Inconclusives”

After a 60-day internal review of testing procedures, USDA-APHIS announced Aug. 4 it will discontinue its policy of declaring BSE tests results to be "inconclusive" based on only one rapid screening test. Instead, the agency will instead wait to check the results against a second round of tests before such an announcement is made, according to Dr. John Clifford, APHIS chief veterinarian.

If either of the tests in the second run is reactive, APHIS will then announce the result as an inconclusive and will conduct confirmatory testing at National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. Clifford said the procedure is consistent with testing protocol in other countries.

A USDA spokesman described the rapid test in use is "designed to be used as a three-well test, and while we were always using all three wells, we had been announcing inconclusive results after the first.”

Since June 1, more than 28,000 rapid screening tests have been conducted. Of those samples, two were deemed "inconclusive" and were subsequently found to be negative.

U.S. – Australia FTA

On August 3, 2004, President Bush Aug. 3 signed the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act (H.R.4759). The agreement was approved by the House and Senate last month.The US-Australia FTA is expected to enter into force on January 1, 2005.