Imported cow aged over 30 months not tested for BSE imported from the Czech Republic (UK)

Imported cow aged over 30 months not tested for BSE Thursday 29 October 2009

The Agency has been notified that a cow aged over 30 months and imported from the Czech Republic has not been tested for BSE.

The cow was slaughtered on 1 October at Alec Jarrett Ltd’s abattoir in Oldland Common, Bristol, aged one day short of 33 months.

The cow was born in the Czech Republic and was imported earlier this year. BSE testing is mandatory for cattle born there if slaughtered for human consumption at over 30 months of age.

On 8 October, Alec Jarrett Ltd realised there had been an error and acted quickly, preventing the carcass leaving the premises and recalling all associated material that had left the premises. All the recalled product and material still on site has since been disposed of under official supervision.

None of the affected product has reached the UK food supply. A small amount of product has been exported to France and the authorities there have been informed. Background to BSE testingCattle aged over 48 months must be BSE tested before entering the food supply if born in one of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

Cattle aged over 30 months and born in any other country, including the Czech Republic, are only allowed to enter the food supply if they have first tested negative for BSE. If there is no BSE test, all parts of the carcass must be condemned.

http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2009/oct/cowover30




Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Czech Republic

Impact Worksheet, June 14, 2001

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ceah/cei/taf/iw_2001_files/foreign/bse_cz0601.htm




EU-25 Sanitary/Phytosanitary/Food Safety EU Mid-Year 2005 BSE update 2005

http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200509/146130887.pdf




SEE BSE GBR

http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/ssc/out243_en.pdf




Archive Number 20021006.5480 Published Date 06-OCT-2002 Subject PRO/AH> BSE, fourth case - Czech Republic: suspected

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1202:393649::NO::F2400_P1202_CHECK_DISPLAY,F2400_P1202_PUB_MAIL_ID:X,19481




2009

P.9.5

Monitoring of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the Russian Federation using a kit TeSeE (Bio-Rad) and immunohistochemical method

Sergey Rybakov, Aleksander Yegorov, Andrey Pavlov, Asya Alyokhina, Anton Zhirkov FGI “Federal Centre for Animal Health”, Russian Federation

Background: A problem of prevention of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and other prion diseases of farm and wild animals is of current interest for the Russian Federation (RF). Since 2005 the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia put into practice the programs aimed at the increase of high-productive bovine animal population on the basis of an increase of a portion of pedigree cattle up to 13%. A rapid increase of pedigree cattle population can be achieved owing to the import of high-productive cattle breeds from other countries. Unfortunately, the Russian cattle-breeding enterprises are compelled to import animals from countries with indigenous BSE. For example, the import of pedigree cattle in 2007 has made 76385 animals; from them 95 % are imported from the counties of BSE controlled risk, mainly Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria, and 5% from a country of BSE negligible risk – Australia.

Objectives: From 2005 the main surveillance object is the cattle from risk groups (non-ambulatory, emergently slaughtered or dead cattle), imported from countries of BSE controlled risk.

Methods: Diagnostic investigations are conducted predominantly by ELISA using kits TeSeE (Bio-Rad). For the purpose of verification, fragments of brainstem of some samples are additionally tested following formalin fixation by an immunohistochemical method using polyclonal antibodies to synthetic peptides-fragments of bovine prion protein.

Results: The number of monitoring investigations among cattle of risk groups increased in 2006-2008; 634 samples were tested in 2006, 1187 samples – in 2007 and 3081 samples – in 2008. Previously, polyclonal antibodies to peptides-fragments of bovine prion protein from regions PrP(106-126), (108-126), (111-126) and PrP(206-230), (216-230), (214-233) have been received and tested with positive results. At present antigenic and immunogenic properties of peptide PrP(154-169) and constructs on its basis are studied.

http://www.prion2009.com/sites/default/files/Prion2009_Book_of_Abstracts.pdf





Saturday, April 25, 2009 Prague BSE Confirmed in a Cow in the Region of Liberec in the Czech Republic Voluntary - Public Clearance Office: Office of Scientific and Technical Affairs (OSTA) Date: 4/6/2009 GAIN Report Number: EZ9003

Czech Republic Post:

http://docket-aphis-2006-0041.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html




Mad cow disease could hit Russia, experts warn Thu, 2002-06-20 21:00 — admin Issue Number: 166 Author: By MARCIA VINHA / The Russia Journal Published: 2002-06-21 Source: The Russia Journal

The arrival of mad cow disease in Poland has led to warnings from Russian producers that shoddy controls at customs and in local meat production are putting Russian livestock at risk as well.

The Russian Agriculture Ministry banned bone-in meat and livestock imports from Poland in early May. While the ministry suggested checking Polish veterinary controls on meat producers, it was not a condition for continuing trade, said Aleksander Milota, consul for commercial issues at the Polish Embassy.

Russia's restrictions on Polish meat are less harsh than those used recently on American poultry, when Russian veterinarians spent a month checking American factories for additives and salmonella. Even so, Milota believes Russian authorities overreacted in responding to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Poland: "All our cattle are tested before being exported," he said. "There is a psychological factor, which is the fear of the disease, that makes the government make unnecessary decisions such as banning cattle imports." Russia used to import 8,000 tons of Polish beef per year.

Poland, expecting to become a EU member in 2004, follows European safety requirements, which demand parental records for all animals to allow genealogical tracing. Cows 30 months old must undergo veterinary testing for BSE, and feeding meat and bone meal to cattle, a practice believed to spread the disease, is also forbidden.

The Polish BSE case has not affected meat prices in Russia, according to the Institute for Studies of the Agrarian Market (IKAR). IKAR analyst Larisa Torogova said she believes that neither meat dealers nor consumers have become concerned about mad cow disease, since Russia has several supplying countries for the 2 million tons of red meat imported each year.

Torogova said Germany and Ukraine are the largest beef exporters to Russia. No mad cow disease has yet been detected in Ukraine, and Germany's controls are now stricter than those in the rest of Europe after struggling with 125 cases of BSE in 2001. Its last BSE case was detected in May, though it has had no reports of the human variant of the disease, Creutzfeld-Jacob, one form of which is believed transmitted by eating contaminated beef.

A State Customs Committee document shows imports of boneless beef are allowed from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, France, the Czech Republic and Japan, as well as Poland. Beef from England, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland and South Korea is entirely prohibited.

Yury Kostenko, chief of the microbiology department at the V.M. Gorbatov Meat Research Institute of All Russia, said those restrictions are enough to decrease contamination risks. "Few remember it, but Russia was the first European country to ban British beef and cow imports in 1986," he said.

But official barriers aren't effective in practice, according to some meat-business insiders. Alexander Spiridonov, president of the St. Petersburg-based Northwestern Association of Meat Producers, accused the government of favoring a small protectorate of meat importers that, with the unofficial support of the customs and clearance control inspectors, could bring meat infected with mad cow or other diseases to Russia.

Spiridonov said previous agreements or bribes to veterinary inspectors allow goods to move freely across borders. And customs and clearance doesn't have the resources to test the safety of imported meat.

"The strict European control on meat production, which is in accordance with Russian veterinary requirements, should be enough to avoid another veterinary inspection at the ports. At the end, officials don't check the cargo," he said, adding that trade barriers against mad cow disease are a government attempt to soften relations with local farmers, many of whom are close to bankruptcy.

The association believes the licensing and import process, among other activities associated with veterinary controls, is unconstitutional and is organizing a lobby of parliament for change. It says a formal charge against the veterinary department of the Agriculture Ministry through the Antimonopoly Ministry and the General Procurator of Russia for their conduct is also on the way, though the Agriculture Ministry couldn't be reached for comment.

Private meat companies have also created a fund to assist farmers facing difficulties trying to supplying local demand.

Russia has not had any reported cases of BSE. But cattle producers complain there aren't enough veterinary inspections of their operations. And some say they doubt the enforcement of legislation regulating the use of animal and bone meal in feed. Its use in cattle feed has been prohibited in Russia since 1996 and even longer in Europe. But there is little to no supervision by veterinary inspectors, who are supposed to check feeding procedures and reasons for animals' deaths.

Meat and bone meal is still used for poultry and hogs, which are not believed to carry BSE.

That there is only one laboratory to analyze Russia's 27 million cows adds to suspicions of internal safety controls. That laboratory, the Russian Research Institute for the Protection of Animals, has tested the meat of 1,200 animals since its beginning in 1999, 15 years after the disease was first diagnosed in England. The laboratory, in the city of Vladimir, is supported by Moscow meat-processing factories interested in checking the quality of their raw product. But the lab doesn't have equipment to test live cows or track the disease's path of infection.

"We took cows from the majority of the regions in the country, and not a single case was discovered," said Alexander Yegorov, deputy chief of the Department of Rare Diseases. He said those tests should be sufficient to show that Russian livestock are free of BSE. But the analysis, at $20 per test, is not affordable for many farmers and so has a limited reach.

"It is impossible to exclude this possibility [of BSE] because it might have reached our territory from cows and meat and bone meal exported to Russia," he said.

The EU, which monitors the potential spread of the disease, warned in 2000 that Poland was likely to have a BSE case. The Brussels-based Press Service of the European Commission has reported that scientists are now evaluating countries' risks of exposure to BSE.

They said definitive conclusions about Russia have not yet been reached, but "certainly the risk of spreading [the disease to Russia] is not excluded."

http://www.russiajournal.com/node/6321




SEE BSE POLAND ;

http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200509/146130887.pdf




Docket APHIS-2007-0033 Docket Title Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002; Biennial Review and Republication of the Select Agent and Toxin List Docket Type Rulemaking Document APHIS-2007-0033-0001 Document Title Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002; Biennial Review and Republication of the Select Agent and Toxin List Public Submission APHIS-2007-0033-0002.1 Public Submission Title Attachment to Singeltary comment

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/contentStreamer?objectId=090000648027c28d&disposition=attachment&contentType=xml




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