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Consultations
Proposals to reduce BSE testing of cattle slaughtered for food
FSA Chair, Dame Deirdre Hutton, said: 'The Board supports the move to testing at 48 months but would not wish this to be implemented until a further report on surveillance has been produced and this has been passed to SEAC for review. This report should also include the issue of fallen stock. The FSA Board would like to be presented with this information and to revisit this issue before any further action is taken on BSE testing in the UK'.
FSA Chief Scientist, Andrew Wadge, said: 'The number one priority of the FSA is to protect consumers. Prevention of exposure of people to BSE rests primarily with SRM controls and not BSE testing. The Agency believes an increase in the age at which cattle are tested for BSE is a proportionate measure and that a review of surveillance is an important factor when considering this issue'.
The Spongiform Encephalopathies Advisory Committee (SEAC) recognised an increase in the age at which cattle intended for human consumption are BSE tested would represent 'a minimal to negligible increase in the risk to human health'. SEAC highlighted the importance of BSE surveillance in monitoring infection levels to ensure they remain extremely low and suggested that if testing controls are modified then BSE surveillance must be kept under review.
The proposal to raise the age at which cattle are BSE tested came as a result of recent changes to EU legislation. EU Members States are now allowed to apply to reduce their monitoring programmes for BSE. For an application to be successful Member States must show a declining or low prevalence of BSE and that they have implemented the EU BSE surveillance programme and feed ban for at least six years.
SEAC considered the results from a mathematical model that had been used to estimate the number of infected cattle that may be undetected as result of raising the minimum age at which healthy slaughtered and fallen stock cattle must be tested for BSE. The model itself, produced by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), was previously reviewed by SEAC1.
The increased risks to human health estimated by the model from raising the age at which healthy slaughtered cattle are tested for BSE (up to 60 months, the highest age modelled) are very small. The model estimates that much less than one BSE case would be missed annually in the Great Britain herd by increasing the age of testing to 60 months for the healthy slaughter surveillance stream. Although uncertainties are inherent in such modelling, the validation of the model that has been conducted provides assurances about the reliability of the results.
Similar results from a different analysis by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)2,3 provide additional confidence in the findings. The EFSA analysis estimates that less than two BSE cases would be missed annually in the whole of the EU15 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) by increasing the age of testing to 60 months for the healthy slaughter surveillance stream. These risk assessments hold provided the incidence of BSE in cattle remains low.
Therefore, regulations should not be modified unless effective surveillance remains in place. Surveillance is the only means of monitoring changes in the incidence and prevalence of BSE, the effectiveness of control measures in preventing an epidemic and the possible emergence of new prion diseases.
As control measures to prevent cattle and human infection are modified, continued active and passive surveillance become increasingly important to ensure that the remaining controls are effective in minimising the risk to human and animal health.
Alongside BSE testing and surveillance a number of controls are in place in the UK to protect consumers:
Removal of Specified Risk Material
The main BSE control in place in the UK removes the parts of cattle most likely to contain BSE. These parts are known as Specified Risk Material. Similar controls apply in all other EU countries.
The Reinforced Feed Ban
It is illegal for cattle to be fed material that contains meat and bone meal, which is thought to have caused the spread of BSE in the 1980s.
These controls are based on current scientific knowledge and are designed to reduce the risk to consumers to an extremely low level. The risk from BSE cannot, however, be removed completely.