BSE Control Measures
Public health control measures, such as surveillance,
culling sick animals, or banning specified risk materials,
have been instituted in many countries, particularly
in those with indigenous cases of confirmed BSE, in
order to prevent potentially BSE-infected tissues from
entering the human food supply.
The most stringent control measures include a UK
program that excludes all animals more than 30 months
of age from the human food and animal feed supplies.
The program appears to be highly effective.
In June 2000, the European Union Commission on Food
Safety and Animal Welfare strengthened the European
Union's BSE control measures by requiring all member
states to remove specified risk materials from animal
feed and human food chains as of October 1, 2000; such
bans had already been instituted in most member states.
Other control measures include banning the use of mechanically
recovered meat from the vertebral column of cattle,
sheep, and goats for human food and BSE testing of
all cattle more than 30 months of age destined for
human consumption.
See
Also: Preventing
vCJD (Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) |