Teaching Workshop Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE

1
Teaching WorkshopBovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE)

• Overview and Awareness Meetings

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Definition of BSE

• Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
• A chronic degenerative disease affecting the
  central nervous system (CNS) of cattle
• Commonly called mad cow disease

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History of BSE

• First diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986
• Worldwide there have been more than 180,000 cases
• 95 have been in the United Kingdom
• In 22 countries, including the first positive in
  the U.S.

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BSE Symptoms in Cattle

• Changes in temperament such as nervousness or
  aggression
• Abnormal posture
• Incoordination and difficulty in rising
• Decreased milk production
• Loss of body condition despite continued appetite

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BSE in Cattle

• No treatment
• No test to diagnose BSE in live animal
• Infective agent
• Most accepted theory is that it is a prion, an
  abnormal form of a normal protein known as a
  cellular prion protein
• Data suggest that the cause may be animal feed
  containing contaminated meat and bone meal

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First BSE Positive in United States

• Presumptive positive on December 23, 2003
• Confirmed positive on December 25, 2003

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BSE Positive in U.S. Timeline

• December 9, 2003
• A non-ambulatory Holstein dairy cow arrives at
  Verns Moses Lake Meats, in Moses Lake,
  Washington
• Animals condition attributed to complications
  from calving
• Samples taken for the Animal and Plant Health
  Inspection Service (APHIS) BSE surveillance
  testing program

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BSE Timeline

• December 11
• Samples arrive at USDAs National Veterinary
  Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa
• December 22
• Preliminary test results are positive

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BSE Timeline

• December 23
• Further test results are positive
• Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announces a
  presumptive positive
• APHIS begins epidemiological investigation and
  places quarantine on herd where cow last resided
  in Mabton, Washington

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BSE Timeline

• December 24
• FSIS initiates Class II recall of all meat
  (10,410 pounds) from group of 20 animals
  slaughtered at plant on December 9
• APHIS determines disposition of three calves from
  the infected cow
• December 25
• World reference laboratory in Weybridge, England
  confirms BSE positive

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BSE Timeline

• December 27 Traceback of infected cow
  indicates
• It was imported from Canada in 2001
• Was likely 6 ½ years old, instead of the 4 ½
  years the last owners records indicated
• Investigative efforts involve Canadian officials
• December 29
• USDA identifies 8 more cows from the same herd in
  Canada that may have entered the U.S.

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BSE Timeline

• December 30
• Agriculture Secretary Veneman announces
  additional safeguards against BSE
• January 5
• USDA announces decision to depopulate the bull
  calf operation in Sunnyside, Washington, that
  includes a calf born to the infected cow

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BSE Timeline

• January 6
• DNA evidence helps to verify, with a high degree
  of certainty, that the BSE positive cow
  originated from a dairy farm in Alberta, Canada
• January 12
• FSIS publishes 3 rules and a notice which take
  effect immediately

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Close Working Relationships

• Throughout this process, FSIS has worked closely
  with APHIS, state officials in affected states,
  and the Canadian Government.

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FSIS Regulatory Authority

• Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) (21
  U.S.C. 601 et seq.)
• FSIS issues regulations governing the production
  of meat and meat food products prepared for
  distribution in commerce.
• A meat food product is adulterated if, among
  other circumstances, it bears or contains any
  poisonous or deleterious substance that may
  render it injurious to health (21 U.S.C. 601(m)
  (1) or if it is for any reason unsound,
  unhealthful, unwholesome, or unfit for human food
  (21 U.S.C. 601 (m) (3)).

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Published Following BSE Positive

• Published in Federal Register January 12, 2004
• Interim final rules with request for comments
• Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk
  Materials for Human Food and Requirements for the
  Disposition of Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle
• Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) Systems
• Prohibition of the use of air-injection stunning
  devices
• Notice on BSE Surveillance Program

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Awareness Meetings

• FSIS inspection program personnel held awareness
  meetings
• In all plants that slaughter cattle or process
  bone-in parts of cattle carcasses.
• At the first weekly PBIS meeting after receipt of
  the awareness meetings notice.
• To explain the new requirements.
• To review 4 checklists with plant management.

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Awareness Meetings

• FSIS inspection program personnel informed plant
  management
• Of the need to reassess the hazard analysis and
  determine what steps were necessary to ensure
  that the plants products did not contain
  materials which might transmit BSE.
• That if plants did not address procedures and
  controls, a Notice of Intended Enforcement (NOIE)
  was to be issued.

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Documenting the Awareness Meetings

• Inspection program personnel documented the
  original awareness meetings in a memorandum of
  interview. It included
• Who was present.
• Date and time the meeting was held.
• What was discussed.
• Any documents that were shared with plant
  management.

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Awareness Meetings

• By the second weekly PBIS meeting
• FSIS inspection program personnel began verifying
  that the plant had incorporated appropriate
  procedures and controls into its
• Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
  (HACCP) Plan
• Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures
  (Sanitation SOPs)
• Or prerequisite programs.

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Awareness Meetings

• After the second weekly PBIS meeting,
• Inspection program personnel verified that the
  requirements were being met utilizing the HACCP
  or the Sanitation SOPs procedure,
• and documented noncompliance accordingly.

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For More Information on BSE

• Log onto the FSIS website at
• http//www.fsis.usda.gov/
• Extensive USDA information
• Links to other BSE websites
• FSIS Technical Service Center (TSC)
• Phone [phone]