Animal Disease Eradication - BSE
NCBA Final Comments on the FDA Enhanced Feed Ban Delay (April 16, 2009) (215 KB)
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
Harvard Center says U.S. is Low-Risk
OIE Classifies United States as “Controlled Risk”
Enhanced Feed Ban
Key Points
Precautions in Place to Protect Animals and Consumers from BSE
Timeline of BSE Measures
Consumers Should Know
Consumers Remain Confident
Summary
Cattlemen are committed to providing the safest beef in the world. The U.S. beef industry has worked with government officials and scientists to put implement multiple interlocking safeguards to prevent bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from taking hold in our country.
The first case of BSE in the United States was announced Dec. 23, 2003, and was found in a Washington state dairy cow imported from Canada. In addition, two cases of BSE in cattle born prior to the U.S. feed ban and raised in the United States also have been reported, one in 2005 and another in 2006. All cases were detected through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) BSE surveillance program. Worldwide, the disease has almost been eliminated. According to the World Organization for Animal Health, there were 44 confirmed cases of BSE worldwide in 2010.
NCBA continues to address issues relating to the cases of BSE and continues to focus efforts to regain access to our key export markets that were closed due to the 2003 BSE announcement continue to be a top priority. Efforts to ensure consumer confidence, food safety and animal health and re-establish normalized trade with our international neighbors continue.
In 1990, United States began an active BSE surveillance program and since its inception, more than 1 million cattle at greatest risk for BSE have been tested. USDA’s ongoing BSE surveillance program tests approximately 40,000 high-risk cattle annually. This program is rigorous and exceeds international guidelines by 10 times.
USDA’s Enhanced BSE Surveillance Program was developed to test targeted animals identified as most likely to have the disease. Beginning June 1, 2004, the program tested more than 750,000 cattle and found only two confirmed cases, evidence that our safeguards are working and the prevalence of BSE in the U.S. is extremely low. Testing 268,500 animals can detect BSE at a rate of 1 in 10 million adult cattle at a 99 percent confidence level.
Harvard Center says U.S. is Low-Risk
The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis conducted a comprehensive multi-year assessment of the risk of BSE in the U.S. and concluded that “measures taken by the U.S. government and industry make the U.S. robust against the spread of BSE to animals or humans should it be introduced into this country.” This assessment is proof that systems have been built over the past 15 years to prevent this disease from spreading and affecting either animal health or public health.
OIE Classifies United States as “Controlled Risk”
The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Scientific Commission formally classified the United States as a controlled risk country for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in May 2007. The controlled risk classification recognizes that U.S. regulatory controls are effective and that U.S fresh beef and beef products from cattle of all ages can be safely traded due to our interlocking safeguards. This provides strong support from an internationally recognized, standard-setting body that the science-based mitigation measures in place in the United States effectively protect animal health and food safety.
U.S. government officials use this international validation to urge our trading partners to reopen export markets to the full spectrum of U.S. cattle and beef products.
Enhanced Feed Ban
The collaboration between industry, government and scientists has been successful in implementing and maintaining science-based measures to prevent and reduce the spread of BSE in the United States, including the 1997 Food and Drug Administration ban on feeding cattle the type of animal-derived protein that can spread BSE. This partnership has proven to safeguard both animal and public health and has been based on science and risk analysis. NCBA has opposed FDA’s proposed enhanced feed ban because the agency has failed to pass a cost/benefit analysis and the lack of statistically valid improvements to animal health and food safety.
The risk of BSE in the U.S. is miniscule and is even much lower today than when the FDA proposed the enhanced feed ban rule in 2005. To date, only two native born animals have been confirmed BSE positive and both animals were born prior to implementation of the FDA feed ban in 1997. FDA has admitted a longstanding near 100 percent compliance rate in the United States to the existing successful feed ban.
The targeted population of “at risk” cattle is measurably smaller and the remaining BSE risk in the United States, NOT already mitigated by existing regulations put in place in 1989 and 1997 and enforcement coupled with pre-1989 risk exposure and rendering and feeding practices pre-1997, is measurably smaller. In 2005, NCBA submitted the BSE prevalence in healthy cattle going to market in the United States, over 30 months of age, must be less than 1 case per 15.4 million cattle. This number is significant because in 2005 it was estimated that there were less than 12 million cattle in the United States that were born before the 1997 ban. In 2009, that number was estimated to be between five and 10 percent of the U.S. cattle herd.
NCBA will continue to oppose the enhanced feed ban and will work to ensure that its implementation causes the least possible burden for producers.
Key Points:
Precautions in Place to Protect Animals and Consumers from BSE
BSE prevention and assurance of food safety in the U.S. involves a multiple firewall approach, including:
• Full enforcement of the ruminant feed ban (implemented in 1997) which prevents the spread of the infective agent.
• Mandatory removal of specified risk materials (SRMs) at processing. These materials, (brain, spinal cord, central nervous system tissue, etc.) are not in the meat we eat.
• A ban on the importation of ruminants and ruminant products from countries with a high risk of BSE.
Timeline of BSE Measures
To see what measures were implemented and when by each country visit the respective country pages listed below or download a printable version of our worldwide BSE timeline
or our United States and Canada BSE timeline.
Consumers Should Know
NCBA has aggressively communicated to national and consumer media that Americans should continue to eat beef with confidence. All scientific studies show that the BSE infectious agent has never been found in beef muscle meat or milk, and U.S. beef remains safe to eat.
- The BSE agent is not found in meat like steaks and roasts. It is only found in central nervous system tissue such as brain and spinal cord.
- All U.S. cattle are inspected by a USDA Inspector or veterinarian before going to slaughter. Animals with any signs of neurological disorder are tested for BSE. All diseased animals are removed from the food system.
- BSE affects older cattle, typically over 30 months of age. The vast majority of the cattle going to market in the U.S. are less than 24 months old.
- The U.S. began a surveillance program for BSE in 1990 and was the first country without the disease within its borders to test cattle for the disease. The surveillance system targets all cattle with any signs of neurological disorder as well as those over 30 months of age and animals that are non-ambulatory.
- The U.S. banned imports of cattle and bovine products from countries with BSE beginning in 1989.
- The only way BSE spreads is through contaminated feed. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration in 1997 instituted a ban on feeding ruminant-derived meat and bone meal supplements to cattle. This is a firewall that prevents the spread of BSE to other animals if it were present in the U.S.
- BSE is almost eliminated worldwide. According to the World Organization for Animal Health, there were 44 confirmed cases of BSE worldwide in 2010.
Consumers Remain Confident
Based upon consumer research and reports from major beef retail and foodservice companies, U.S. consumers’ confidence remains strong in U.S. beef as the safest in the world. Despite consumers being aware of the BSE finding, confidence in U.S. beef being safe is at 92 percent, higher than at pre-BSE levels. Consumers also have a high confidence in the government and cattlemen to provide them with beef that is safe from BSE.
For more information, visit: www.bseinfo.org