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What safety measures are in place to prevent the spread of BSE?

Safety measures have been introduced throughout the EU to prevent the spread of BSE. These measures are based on current scientific knowledge to reduce the risk of BSE.

It is illegal for cattle in the EU to be fed any material that might be infected with the BSE agents such as meat and bone meal. This move is to prevent infectious material being introduced to feed and to prevent uninfected cattle from becoming infected

By law, the parts of cattle that are most likely to be infected with BSE agent cannot enter the food chain and must be destroyed. In cattle with BSE, the tissues that have been shown to be infectious are the nervous system (including the vertebral column), the eye, the tonsils and the entire intestine (from duodenum to rectum). These organs are referred to as “Specified Risk Material” or SRM. The SRM are removed and destroyed from all cattle slaughtered on age > 12 months.

In EU, a testing on all cattle over 30 months old has been put in place by EU Council Ministers. Some countries, such as France and Italy, are testing all cattle over 24 months of age. In UK use of cattle over 30 month in food chain is banned. No cases of BSE have been found in cattle less than 30 months old since 1996 so it is considered safe to eat meat from younger animals.

To evaluate the extent of the BSE problems and trends, cattle are continuously monitored for BSE and newly developed tests for the diagnosis of BSE in dead and slaughtered cattle have been introduced. Post-mortem testing of suspect cattle over 24 months, and all cattle over 30 months, was introduced in the EU from July 2001.

One potential source of BSE contamination for humans is thought to have been via “mechanically recovered meat” (MRM). This is a kind of paste that was made from meat sluiced or scraped from the carcass. This meat would have included the vertebral column and other SRM. The product was added to some cooked meat products such as hot dogs, sausages, meat pies, meat patties and luncheon meats. Use of vertebral column for the production of MRM is illegal.

In 1996, bans were introduced that prevented the sale of beef and beef products from the UK to other countries. This ban was lifted in 1999 by the European Union (EU) provided the meat met strict criteria such as de-boned meat from animals at farms where no cases of BSE had been reported and where the animals were less than 30 months old at the time of slaughter.

Although transmission of BSE to sheep has been shown to be experimentally possible, the risk of BSE in sheep is considered to be theoretical and so far no BSE has been detected in sheep flocks. Nevertheless, precautionary measures have been introduced to protect consumers from any risk. These are similar to those for cattle and include the removal of SRM from slaughtered sheep over 12 months of age and the spleen in animals of any age, and bans on the feeding of meat and bone meal and MRM from sheep carcasses.