NCBA Statement Regarding Ongoing USDA BSE Surveillance Program

By Gary Weber, Ph.D., Executive Director, Regulatory Affairs

National Cattleman’s Beef Association
Washington, D.C.
July 20, 2006

Excerpt...

“The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just announced it will transition to an ongoing BSE surveillance program. NCBA believes this move is scientifically justified, and it reflects an appropriate level of testing for a country with an extremely low risk of BSE.

“The new level of BSE surveillance is rigorous and exceeds international guidelines by 10 times. In addition, our food supply remains safe from BSE thanks to extensive protective measures already in place. “America’s beef producers are eager to provide the world’s consumers with high quality, safe U.S. beef. As Secretary Johanns stated, ‘BSE surveillance is not a food safety program....’

“The scientific analysis of USDA’s enhanced surveillance program found the disease to be extremely rare, occurring at a rate of less than one case per one million adult cattle. This analysis is the strongest evidence yet that the BSE risk in this country is exceptionally low. The program far exceeded expectations, testing an average of 1,000 cattle per day - primarily older animals that are at greater risk for the disease. The International Review Team recommended the enhanced surveillance program for a 12 to 18 month period to determine BSE prevalence in the United States. Now, 25 months later, the program has tested more than 759,000 cattle and only identified two cases.

“We know BSE is extremely rare in the United States. With our multiple safeguards in place to protect all beef, experts agree we are doing all the right things to protect the food supply and cattle, and that the disease is headed toward full eradication.

“The livelihood of cattle producers depends on delivering safe and wholesome food to dinner tables around the world and to our own families every day. USDA’s announcement today provides even further assurance that we’re doing just that.”

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The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is the largest organization representing America’s cattle industry. Initiated in 1898, NCBA is the industry leader in education, influencing public policy to improve producer profitability and in preserving the industry’s heritage and future. Efforts are made possible through membership contributions. To join, contact NCBA at 1-866-BEEF-USA or membership@beef.org.

USDA Announces New BSE Surveillance Program

USDA
July 20, 2006

Excerpt...

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2006-Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin transitioning to an ongoing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance program that corresponds to the extremely low prevalence of the disease in the U.S.

"It's time that our surveillance efforts reflect what we now know is a very, very low level of BSE in the United States," said Johanns. "This ongoing surveillance program will maintain our ability to detect BSE, provide assurance that our interlocking safeguards are successfully preventing BSE, while continuing to exceed science-based international guidelines."

The ongoing BSE surveillance program will sample approximately 40,000 animals each year. Under the program, USDA will continue to collect samples from a variety of sites and from the cattle populations where the disease is most likely to be detected, similar to the enhanced surveillance program procedures.

The new program will not only comply with the science-based international guidelines set forth by the World Animal Health organization (OIE), it will provide testing at a level ten times higher than the OIE recommended level.

USDA has an obligation to provide 30 days notice of the change to contractors who are performing the sampling and testing, so the earliest the new surveillance program would begin is late August. Once the ongoing surveillance program begins, USDA will periodically analyze the surveillance strategy to ensure the program provides the foundation for market confidence in the safety of U.S. cattle.

In April, USDA released an analysis of 7 years of BSE surveillance data. This included data from an enhanced surveillance program, which began in June 2004, as a one-time effort to determine the prevalence of BSE in the United States. The analysis concluded that the prevalence of BSE in the United States is less than 1 case per million adult cattle....

The enhanced surveillance program has been funded using emergency CCC funds totaling $157.8 million since June 2004. Ongoing surveillance will cost approximate $17 million per year using funds appropriated by Congress. The President's FY 2007 budget request includes this level of funding. BSE surveillance is not a food safety program.

Human and animal health is protected by a system of interlocking safeguards, including the removal of specified risk materials - those tissues that studies have demonstrated may contain the BSE agent in infected cattle, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 1997 ruminant to ruminant feed ban. Scientific studies indicate that the longer a feed ban is in place, the lower the prevalence of BSE will become.

An outline of the ongoing BSE surveillance plan is available at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/hot_issues/bse.shtml.

Statment By Agricultural Secretary Mike Johanns Regarding Canada's Seventh Case of BSE, from Ulan Bator, Mongolia

USDA Press Office
July 13, 2006

"Today, Canada announced a case of BSE in a 50 month old animal from Alberta. While the United States and Canada have a strong system in place to protect animal and human health, the diagnosis of BSE in an animal born roughly four and half years after the implementation of the 1997 ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban does raise questions that must be answered.

"We need a thorough understanding of all the circumstances involved in this case to assure our consumers that Canada's regulatory system is effectively providing the utmost protections to consumers and livestock. I am dispatching a USDA expert to participate in the investigation of this case, particularly as it relates to how this animal may have been exposed to BSE infected material. We have been assured by our Canadian counterparts that they welcome having our experts participate side-by-side with their investigators."

Potential BSE Case in Alberta

Potential BSE Case in Alberta
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/newcom/2006/
20060710be.shtml
July 10, 2006

Excerpt...

OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is currently conducting confirmatory testing at the National Reference Laboratory in Winnipeg of samples from a cow from Alberta suspected of having bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Preliminary screening tests were not able to rule out BSE. Therefore, consistent with established CFIA protocol, additional analysis is underway.

The animal, reported to be a 50-month old dairy cow, died and was retained on farm. No part of the carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems, and the entire carcass has been placed under control. The cow was identified through the national BSE surveillance program.

This detection is consistent with a low level of disease and does not indicate an increased risk of BSE in Canada.

The CFIA has launched an investigation to collect additional information about the affected animal. In addition, the CFIA will identify other animals of equivalent risk, namely cattle born on the same farm within 12 months before and after the affected animal. Any live animals found from this group will be segregated and tested.

Given its age, this animal would have been exposed to the BSE agent after the 1997 introduction of Canada's feed ban, likely during its first year of life. An exhaustive investigation to examine possible routes of infection has begun on the farm. This finding is consistent with international experience, which demonstrates that BSE cases born after the introduction of feed bans are seen in other countries affected by the disease. On June 26, 2006, the Government announced regulatory enhancements to Canada's feed ban to exclude SRM from all animal feeds, pet foods and fertilizers. This strengthening of the ban provides an even greater barrier to any potential for the circulation of infectious material in order to accelerate the eradication of BSE in the shortest time frame possible.

The safety of Canada's food supply remains protected through the removal of specified risk material (SRM) from all cattle slaughtered for human consumption.

BSE Confirmed in Manitoba Cow

BSE Confirmed in Manitoba Cow
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/newcom/2006/
20060704e.shtml
July 4, 2006

Excerpt...

OTTAWA – Final test results have confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a mature cross-bred beef cow from Manitoba.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is conducting a comprehensive investigation. Officials have confirmed the animal was purchased by the owner as part of an assembled group of cattle in 1992. This means that the animal was at least 15 years of age and would have been born well before the 1997 introduction of Canada’s feed ban. As a priority, investigators are attempting to locate the birth farm, which will provide the basis needed to identify the animal’s herdmates and feed to which it may have been exposed at a young age. Given the animal’s age, investigative efforts may be constrained by few surviving animals and limited sources of information, such as detailed records. A calf born to the affected animal in 2004 is also being traced.

The safety of Canada’s food supply remains protected through the removal of specified risk material (SRM) from all cattle slaughtered for human consumption....On June 26, 2006, the CFIA announced regulatory enhancements to Canada’s feed ban, which further strengthen the animal feed system.