A risk assessment of Irish beef, published today by the Food Standards Agency, estimates the likely size of the BSE epidemic in the Republic of Ireland and the implications for UK consumers during the year 2000. The study, by Christl Donnelly, was commissioned in December 2000 – before the current EU-wide BSE controls were introduced.

The Agency advises UK consumers that, provided the Over Thirty Month rule continues to be effectively enforced, Irish beef consumed in the UK presents a similar risk to UK-produced beef. Imported meat products from the Republic of Ireland will have had a slightly increased risk in 2000, but that was within a range previously accepted in the UK. EU-wide controls will further reduce the risks.

The study estimates that 22,000 Irish cattle were infected with BSE between 1985 and 1996. This compares with almost 1 million in the UK since the start of the BSE epidemic.

The study indicates that a total of 159 animals estimated to have been within 12 months of developing clinical symptoms of BSE entered the food chain in the Republic of Ireland in 2000.(1)

The equivalent figures for France and Great Britain are 52 and 1 respectively. The differences relate to the application of the Over Thirty Month rule in the UK that prevents older animals, which are more likely to be close to developing BSE, from entering the food chain. These rules did not apply in 2000 in France and the Republic of Ireland. Similar controls are now in force across the EU.

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Taking into account the UK Over Thirty Month rule and estimates of its enforcement in relation to imported beef (2), it is estimated that 2 animals from the Republic of Ireland close to clinical infection may have been consumed in the UK in 2000 compared to 1 from UK herds.

Meat products imported from the Republic of Ireland would have presented a slightly higher risk as the Over Thirty Month rule did not apply during 2000. Most of the potentially infective material is removed through the specified risk material controls. Since the introduction of EU-wide BSE controls on 1 January 2001, over thirty month animals are only allowed into the food chain if they have tested negative for BSE. This will reduce the likelihood of late stage infection animals entering the food chain and further reduce any risks that may be associated imported meat products from EU countries.

1. Animals close to developing clinical signs of BSE are the most likely to carry infectivity in their tissues. Most of this is removed through specified risk material controls that have been in place in the Republic of Ireland since 1996 and can only be exported to the UK through abattoirs licenced for this purpose.
   
   
   
2. Returns from local authorities in the UK covering 9500 Inspections of imported meat indicate 99% compliance in relation to documentation.
   
   
   
3. Current EU controls require the parts of the carcasses most at risk of carrying BSE infectivity to be removed at the slaughterhouse (since October 2000). In addition, animals over the age of thirty months are prevented from entering the food chain unless tested negative for BSE (since January 2001).
   
   
   
4. In the UK it is illegal for animals over the age of thirty months to enter the food chain. The only exceptions are from the beef assurance scheme (these are small specialist, grass reared herds) and from 14 countries outside the EU, where there are no cases of BSE, that are exempt.
   
   
   
5. The FSA has issued instructions that 100% of German imported beef be inspected.
   

The full report is available from the FSA BSE website on www.bsereview.org.uk where the most recent information on BSE is also available.

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