The Food Standards Agency (FSA) yesterday [Thursday] announced that 20 Beef Assurance Scheme (BAS) cattle have entered the human food chain without meeting the EU legal requirement of testing for BSE.
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An investigation is underway to establish how this happened, although the actual risk from these specific animals is negligible. There were no positive tests from the BAS animals slaughtered for human consumption in 2001, around 150 in total. There have been no clinical cases of BSE in bona fide BAS herds.
BAS animals have been exempt from the rules that ban over thirty month old cattle entering the human food chain ever since the scheme was introduced in 1996. They may be slaughtered for food at up to 42 months of age. This is because they are from very low BSE-risk specialist beef herds that are known not to have consumed mammalian meat and bonemeal (MBM), thought to be the source of BSE and, moreover, are subject to full specified risk
material (SRM) removal at slaughter, ensuring that the parts of an animal most likely to contain BSE infectivity are removed.
From 1 January last year, new EU rules have meant that all cattle over 30 months of age – including those registered under the BAS – must be tested for BSE and may only enter the food chain if the result is negative. Given that prior to this change these animals were regarded as sufficiently low-risk to enter the human food chain without testing, there is no new public health risk.
The FSA was made aware of the issue last week by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which administers the BAS. Responsibility for taking samples from the relevant cattle for testing falls to the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS), an executive agency of the FSA.
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By GlobalDataAll these breaches took place last year, before the administration of the system was refined in October 2001, since when there have been no further cases reported. The need for any further strengthening of guidance and systems will be considered.
Dr Debby Reynolds, FSA veterinary director, said: “There is no new public health risk but these mistakes in enforcing EU legislation are unacceptable. The MHS has expressed its regret. We will need to see if any action is needed, but these cases were all before the procedures were tightened in October 2001, and none have been reported since then.”
