USDA Announces Further Analysis of BSE Test Results; Sample to go to Weybridge
(Saturday, June 11, 2005) Yesterday evening at 9:00 p.m. eastern time, USDA held a media briefing on BSE. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns reminded participants that during the course of the enhanced BSE surveillance program to date, three BSE rapid tests resulted in an inconclusive result. Each of these tests was followed by a confirmatory immunohistochemistry (IHC) test; each IHC was negative.
Recently, during an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audit of the BSE surveillance program, the OIG determined that each of these samples should also be tested using another commonly used test, called Western Blot. While two of these initial inconclusives again confirmed negative using the Western Blot test, one of the retested samples was a reactor, or positive, when the Western Blot was performed.
Since this single sample has conflicting results, the sample will be forwarded to the World Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, England for final confirmation. USDA expects to have protocols for that confirmation developed early next week, but did not comment on when it expects to receive final results from Weybridge.
The sample in question was from an inconclusive announced in November, 2004. The animal did not enter the food or feed chain. USDA has said the animal in question was an older animal and a beef breed. The animal was non-ambulatory when presented for rendering and was condemned and incinerated.
If you are asked for comment on this issue:
Protecting Public Health
Because of the progressive steps taken by the U.S. government over the past 15 years, U.S. beef is safe from BSE.
▪ The most recent firewall established by USDA mandates removal from the food supply material that would most likely carry the BSE agent (such as brain and spinal cord). The multiple firewall approach ensures this diminishing disease has NO affect on public or animal health.
▪ BSE infectivity is not found in beef such as steaks, roasts and ground beef. It exists in nervous system tissues such as the spinal cord and brain of older animals with this rare disease, and USDA now mandates that these materials are removed prior to processing
The government has built and maintained strong firewalls to help ensure that U.S. beef remains safe from BSE. Among them:
▪ FDA reports Feed Ban compliance exceeds 99 percent.
As far back as the late 80s, the U.S. government and cattle industry took precautions to protect public and animal health. And we added even more layers of protection following the case identified December 23, 2003.
▪ In 1996, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association launched a voluntary feed ban, which established an industry standard against feeding ruminant-derived protein to cattle.
▪ In 1997, with our support, the FDA made the ban mandatory. The Feed Ban breaks the cycle of BSE and, with full compliance, assures the disease will be eliminated. FDA reports Feed Ban compliance exceeds 99 percent.
▪ 97 percent of beef produced today comes from animals born after the Feed Ban, and that percentage increases every day. Regardless, U.S. beef is safe from BSE because the parts of the animal that could carry BSE are not allowed into the food supply.
▪ BSE is an animal disease that is not contagious; the only way scientists believe it can be spread is through now-banned feeding practices
The USDA’s expanded BSE surveillance program is designed to assess the prevalence of BSE in this country.
▪ Very few cattle under 30 months have ever been found positive for BSE despite the fact that almost 2-million such cattle have been tested in Europe.
▪ The surveillance plan has been reviewed and supported by the International Review panel of BSE experts and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Harvard has been analyzing the risk of this disease since 1998.
Because U.S. beef is safe from BSE, we do not believe the impending results should affect ongoing discussions to reopen the border for beef trade.
▪ BSE infectivity is not found in beef such as steaks, roasts and ground beef.
▪ USDA mandates removal from the food supply material that would most likely carry the BSE agent (such as brain and spinal cord) to ensure this diminishing disease has NO affect on public health.
NCBA expects USDA to act with speed and accuracy to reach final resolution on this sample.
▪ Since this disease was first discovered in England, the laboratory in Weybridge continues to be a confirmatory destination for inconclusive BSE samples from around the world.
The risk of BSE to humans in the U.S. is virtually zero. To learn more about BSE, information can found at the following web sites:
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