Teaching Workshop Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Overview and Awareness Meetings.

Teaching WorkshopBovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

Overview and Awareness Meetings

Definition of BSE

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy:

A chronic degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS) of cattle

Commonly called “mad cow disease”

History of BSE

First diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986

Worldwide there have been more than 180,000 cases 95% have been in the United Kingdom In 22 countries, including the first positive in the

U.S.

BSE Symptoms in Cattle

Changes in temperament such as nervousness or aggression

Abnormal posture Incoordination and difficulty in rising Decreased milk production Loss of body condition despite continued

appetite

BSE in Cattle

No treatment No test to diagnose BSE in live animal Infective agent

Most accepted theory is that it is a prion, an abnormal form of a normal protein known as a cellular prion protein

Data suggest that the cause may be animal feed containing contaminated meat and bone meal

First BSE Positive in United States Presumptive positive on December 23, 2003

Confirmed positive on December 25, 2003

BSE Positive in U.S. – Timeline December 9, 2003

A non-ambulatory Holstein dairy cow arrives at Vern’s Moses Lake Meats, in Moses Lake, Washington

Animal’s condition attributed to complications from calving

Samples taken for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) BSE surveillance testing program

BSE – Timeline

December 11 Samples arrive at USDA’s National Veterinary

Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa

December 22 Preliminary test results are positive

BSE – Timeline

December 23 Further test results are positive Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman

announces a “presumptive positive” APHIS begins epidemiological investigation and

places quarantine on herd where cow last resided in Mabton, Washington

BSE – Timeline

December 24 FSIS initiates Class II recall of all meat (10,410

pounds) from group of 20 animals slaughtered at plant on December 9

APHIS determines disposition of three calves from the infected cow

December 25 World reference laboratory in Weybridge, England

confirms BSE positive

BSE – Timeline

December 27 – Traceback of infected cow indicates: It was imported from Canada in 2001 Was likely 6 ½ years old, instead of the 4 ½ years

the last owner’s records indicated Investigative efforts involve Canadian officials

December 29 USDA identifies 8 more cows from the same herd

in Canada that may have entered the U.S.

BSE – Timeline

December 30 Agriculture Secretary Veneman announces

additional safeguards against BSE

January 5 USDA announces decision to depopulate the bull

calf operation in Sunnyside, Washington, that includes a calf born to the infected cow

BSE – Timeline

January 6 DNA evidence helps to verify, with a high degree

of certainty, that the BSE positive cow originated from a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada

January 12 FSIS publishes 3 rules and a notice which take

effect immediately

Close Working Relationships

Throughout this process, FSIS has worked closely with APHIS, state officials in affected states, and the Canadian Government.

FSIS Regulatory Authority

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) FSIS issues regulations governing the production of meat

and meat food products prepared for distribution in commerce.

A meat food product is adulterated if, among other circumstances, it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health (21 U.S.C. 601(m) (1) or if it is for any reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or unfit for human food (21 U.S.C. 601 (m) (3)).

Published Following BSE Positive Published in Federal Register January 12,

2004: Interim final rules with request for comments:

Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk Materials for Human Food and Requirements for the Disposition of Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle

Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) Systems Prohibition of the use of air-injection stunning devices

Notice on BSE Surveillance Program

Awareness Meetings

FSIS inspection program personnel held awareness meetings: In all plants that slaughter cattle or process bone-

in parts of cattle carcasses. At the first weekly PBIS meeting after receipt of

the awareness meetings notice. To explain the new requirements. To review 4 checklists with plant management.

Awareness Meetings

FSIS inspection program personnel informed plant management:

Of the need to reassess the hazard analysis and determine what steps were necessary to ensure that the plant’s products did not contain materials which might transmit BSE.

That if plants did not address procedures and controls, a Notice of Intended Enforcement (NOIE) was to be issued.

Documenting the Awareness Meetings Inspection program personnel documented

the original awareness meetings in a memorandum of interview. It included:

Who was present. Date and time the meeting was held. What was discussed. Any documents that were shared with plant

management.

Awareness Meetings

By the second weekly PBIS meeting: FSIS inspection program personnel began

verifying that the plant had incorporated appropriate procedures and controls into its: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)

Plan; Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation

SOPs); Or prerequisite programs.

Awareness Meetings

After the second weekly PBIS meeting,

Inspection program personnel verified that the requirements were being met utilizing the HACCP or the Sanitation SOPs procedure,

and documented noncompliance accordingly.

For More Information on BSE Log onto the FSIS website at

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/ Extensive USDA information Links to other BSE websites

FSIS Technical Service Center (TSC) Phone 1-800-233-3935