USMEF South American Expo (Click to download PDF form) USDA | USDA Tripled B...
USMEF South American Expo (Click to download PDF form)
USDA Tripled BSE Testing in 2002 As Preventative Measure
During the 2002 fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than tripled the number of cattle it tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and made significant steps on other prevention measures to keep the disease from entering the United States, according to a USDA news release. USDA tested 19,990 cattle in 2002 for BSE using a targeted surveillance approach designed to test the highest risk animals, including downers, animals that die on the farm, older animals and animals exhibiting signs of neurological distress. Comparatively, the Agriculture Department tested only 5,272 cattle in fiscal year 2001.
Both figures are significantly higher than the standards set by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), which merely requires a BSE-free country such as the United States to test 433 head of cattle a year. USDA reported it is now testing 41 times that amount.
In addition to surveillance, OIE guidelines require a risk analysis and management strategy, an education and awareness program and compulsory notification requirements in order for a country to claim that it is BSE free. The United States exceeds these criteria in all categories.
In November 2001, Harvard University published a three-year BSE risk analysis, the most comprehensive such assessment ever done. The detailed assessment showed that the occurrence of BSE in the United States is highly unlikely.
In response to this report, USDA announced a series of actions in 2002 to strengthen BSE prevention in the U.S.; these actions involved cooperation with the Department of Health and Human Services and included:
- Double the number of BSE tests: USDA has exceeded that goal by conducting nearly 20,000 tests in fiscal 2002, tripling the number of tests in 2001.
- Enact peer review of the Harvard Risk Assessment to ensure its scientific integrity: USDA has since identified several independent scientists to analyze the report; their results are expected by June 2003.
- Publish a "Current Thinking Paper" on BSE policy (January 2002), to guide future regulatory and policy recommendations. In December 2002, inspectors at beef plants using vertebral columns as source materials in AMR systems were ordered to take routine samples to verify that spinal cord is not present, in order to meet FSIS labeling and inspection requirements.
- Develop a rule to prohibit use of certain stunning devices that may inadvertently force pieces of brain and spinal cord tissue (macro-emboli) into the circulatory system of stunned cattle. FSIS is working to complete a direct final rule by March 2003 prohibiting the use of air-injection stunning devices used to immobilize cattle during slaughter.
- Publish a Notice on regulatory options for disposal of dead stock on farms and ranches: FSIS expects to issue a Notice in the Federal Register in February 2003 directing people who deal with dead, dying, diseased and downer animals that they are required to register with FSIS. This will assist traceability measures if BSE were ever detected in the U.S.
- Publish a Notice on a proposed rule on AMR-derived meat: FSIS will issue a Federal Register Notice by August 2003 to clarify that vertebral columns should not be used as a source material unless the plant has effective control measures in place to ensure that CNS tissue is not present in any AMR-derived meat. (Final rule by December 2003).
Since 1989, USDA has prohibited the importation of live ruminants and most ruminant products from countries considered to be at risk for BSE. In 1997, FDA prohibited the use of most mammalian protein in the animal feed intended for ruminants. USDA maintains an extensive BSE Web site useful to meat exporters at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/.
On Jan 7, the Mexican government announced that an antidumping investigation was being initiated against imports of U.S. pork from April 1-September 30, 2002. A translation of the Mexico Ministry of Economy antidumping questionnaire is now available. It includes: general information and instructions, overviews in chart 1 and chart 2, definitions in “Annex” 2, 3 and 4, and forms “Annex 1” and “A.1-2” . Exporters and traders selling product to Mexico should review these documents and should consider whether to have their attorneys also review them. USMEF understands that the named companies selling product during the investigation period as well as any company that wants to try avoid being put into an “all others” category should fill out the forms and submit the requested data. Deadline for filing is Feb. 18. The official announcement is available online at http://www.segob.gob.mx/dof/dof_07-01-2003.pdf and begins on page 26 of this document. A preliminary translation – in which there may be still be interpretation errors – is available at http//www.usmef.org/Misc_News/03_0107_MexAntiDump_sp.pdf and a preliminary evaluation of the situation by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service office in Mexico City is available at http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200301/145785049.pdf.