Tuesday, March 5, 2013

FSA notified of BSE control breaches again and again 5 March 2013

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 ;