Last updated on 5 March 2013
FSA notified of BSE control breaches
The FSA has been notified of a series of BSE control breaches that took
place last year. The risk to human health is very low as it is very unlikely
that any of the animals would have been infected.
Goats from slaughterhouse in Belgium On 5 July 2012, during a routine
inspection at London Central Markets (Smithfield), a goat carcass with spleen
attached was discovered. Goat spleen is specified risk material (SRM) and must
be removed at the slaughterhouse. SRM consists of the the parts of the animal
most likely to carry BSE infection.
The goat was in a consignment of 41 goat and kid carcasses slaughtered at
Profoods bvba, a slaughterhouse in Antwerp, Belgium. There were also a
significant number of hygiene issues with the consignment. All of the carcasses
were detained and none of the meat entered the food supply. There was no public
health risk resulting from this incident.
Consignments of beef from a Belgian abattoir On 1 October 2012, the Agency
was informed by the Belgian authorities that consignments of beef that may have
contained meat from six cattle over 72 months of age, which were not tested for
BSE, had been exported to the UK. At the time it was mandatory for all cattle
slaughtered for human consumption and aged over 72 months to have a negative BSE
test result.
The untested cattle were slaughtered at Slachtgroep Leieland (BE185), an
abattoir in Harelbeke, Belgium. Meat from the consignments associated with the
untested animals was sent to three businesses in the UK. Investigations revealed
that most had already been sold to the final consumer and been eaten, but 11
pallets of meat were traced to a UK coldstore and subsequently destroyed.
It is very unlikely that any of the untested animals would have been
infected with BSE. Belgium has not reported a case since 2006. In addition the
SRM had been removed so any risk to human health is extremely low.
Breaches in UK-produced meat SRM On 7 December 2012, during a routine
inspection by Food Standards Agency staff at Simply Halal (Banham) Ltd, a
combined slaughterhouse and cutting premises in Norfolk, it was discovered that
25 beef quarters had left the premises without the vertebral column being
removed.
Simply Halal sold the quarters to a meat wholesaler. The wholesaler's
records were incomplete and as a result it was only possible to trace and detain
one of the quarters. This was destroyed. It is probable that meat from all the
other quarters was consumed.
The quarters were from cattle over 30 months of age. The vertebral column
of cattle over 30 months is specified risk material (SRM) and must be removed.
The risk from the meat that entered the food chain is very low, as it is
extremely unlikely that any of the animals involved had BSE. Only three cases of
BSE were recorded in the UK in 2012. None of these animals entered the food
chain.
BSE testing Meat from a cow over 72 months of age entered the food chain
without being tested for BSE.
The animal, aged 73 months and 4 days, was slaughtered on 11 October 2012,
at Woolley Bros (Wholesale Meats) Ltd, a combined abattoir and cutting plant in
Sheffield. The error was discovered on 4 December 2012 during routine
cross-checks of slaughter and BSE testing data.
According to regulations any cattle that have not been tested, along with
the animal slaughtered immediately before it and the two immediately after
should not enter the food supply.
The four affected carcasses were sold as part of consignment of 90 beef
sides to a food business operator in the Netherlands. In addition, cheek meat
from the same batch of animals was sold to a business in Germany. No meat from
the animals entered the UK food supply and the Agency notified the Dutch and
German authorities of the breach of controls and that meat from the affected
animals had entered their countries.
It should be noted that since 1 March 2013 there is no longer a requirement
to test healthy slaughtered cattle over 72 months of age for BSE before they
enter the food supply.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
FSA notified of two breaches of BSE testing regulations 14 January 2013
EURO QUALITY RECALLS ITS LAMBS' BRAINS
Euro Quality Lambs Ltd is recalling its lambs’ brains, which have entered
the food chain without being inspected properly. The Food Standards Agency is
asking all local authority enforcement officers to ensure that the product is
withdrawn from sale and destroyed. The Agency has issued a Food Alert for
Action.
sheep, brains, cow brains, lamb brains, did they make sure this time
???
see the potential for Scrapie transmission to man, see studies here ;
Thursday, January 17, 2013
FSA notified of two breaches of BSE testing regulations 14 January 2013
BREACHES OF BSE CONTROLS IN CONSIGNMENTS OF BEEF
Due to an oversight, four breaches of BSE controls in British beef
identified last year were not publicised immediately on the Agency’s website in
the normal manner.
COW AGED OVER 72 MONTHS ENTERS FOOD SUPPLY WITHOUT BEING TESTED FOR
BSE
The Agency has been notified that meat has entered the food supply from a
cow aged over 72 months that had not been tested for BSE. A negative BSE test
result is mandatory for cattle slaughtered for human consumption at over 72
months of age.
UNTESTED COW ENTERS THE FOOD SUPPLY
The Agency has been notified that meat from a cow that did not have the
required BSE test has entered the food supply. The 62 month old cow had been
slaughtered on farm for welfare reasons.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Bullock aged over 72 months enters food supply without being tested for
BSE
Monday, February 18, 2013
EU Reauthorisation of non-ruminant processed animal proteins for fish feed
and welcomes the likely potential for more TSE prion disease
Friday, November 30, 2012
PROPOSED DECISION TO STOP BSE TESTING OF HEALTHY CATTLE SLAUGHTERED FOR
HUMAN CONSUMPTION FSA 12/12/04 Open Board – 11 December 2012
ANY RELAXING OF ANY BSE TESTING RULES WOULD NOT BE BASED ON SOUND SCIENCE,
BUT BASED ON INDUSTRY LED SCIENCE AND MONEY $$$
we now know that indeed atypical BSE is transmissible to cattle and other
species, and atypical BSE have been documented in older cattle to date. so
relaxing any BSE testing on older cattle would be a huge step backwards, and
could risk everything that has been done over the past 27 years to try and
eradicate BSE. ...
TSS
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
World Organization for Animal Health Recommends United States' BSE Risk
Status Be Upgraded
Statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack:
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The Many Faces of Mad Cow Disease Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE and
TSE prion disease
Monday, February 11, 2013
APHIS USDA Letter to Stakeholders: Trade Accomplishments and failures (BSE,
SCRAPIE, TSE, PRION, AKA MAD COW TYPE DISEASE)
Friday, November 23, 2012
sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease update As at 5th November 2012 UK, USA,
AND CANADA
Monday, January 14, 2013
Gambetti et al USA Prion Unit change another highly suspect USA mad cow
victim to another fake name i.e. sporadic FFI at age 16 CJD Foundation goes
along with this BSe
Thursday, February 21, 2013
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined January
16, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) biannual update (February 2013) Infection
report/CJD
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Seven main threats for the future linked to prions
First threat
The TSE road map defining the evolution of European policy for protection
against prion diseases is based on a certain numbers of hypotheses some of which
may turn out to be erroneous. In particular, a form of BSE (called atypical
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), recently identified by systematic testing in
aged cattle without clinical signs, may be the origin of classical BSE and thus
potentially constitute a reservoir, which may be impossible to eradicate if a
sporadic origin is confirmed.
***Also, a link is suspected between atypical BSE and some apparently
sporadic cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. These atypical BSE cases
constitute an unforeseen first threat that could sharply modify the European
approach to prion diseases.
Second threat
snip...
EFSA Journal 2011 The European Response to BSE: A Success Story
This is an interesting editorial about the Mad Cow Disease debacle, and
it's ramifications that will continue to play out for decades to come ;
Monday, October 10, 2011
EFSA Journal 2011 The European Response to BSE: A Success Story
snip...
EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
recently delivered a scientific opinion on any possible epidemiological or
molecular association between TSEs in animals and humans (EFSA Panel on
Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) and ECDC, 2011). This opinion confirmed Classical
BSE prions as the only TSE agents demonstrated to be zoonotic so far but the
possibility that a small proportion of human cases so far classified as
"sporadic" CJD are of zoonotic origin could not be excluded. Moreover,
transmission experiments to non-human primates suggest that some TSE agents in
addition to Classical BSE prions in cattle (namely L-type Atypical BSE,
Classical BSE in sheep, transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) and chronic
wasting disease (CWD) agents) might have zoonotic potential.
snip...
see follow-up here about North America BSE Mad Cow TSE prion risk factors,
and the ever emerging strains of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy in many
species here in the USA, including humans ;
