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The
American Meat Institute Foundation, Washington, D.C., is
pleased over the Food and Drug Administration's report that
almost all U.S. feed manufacturers are complying with the
nationwide ban on feeding ruminant proteins to ruminant
animals.
“FDA's
comprehensive inspection records show substantial compliance
with the federal ban on feeding ruminant protein to ruminants,”
AMIF president James Hodges said in a release. “We share
FDA's view, detailed in its response to the GAO report,
that the agency's inspection and oversight have been transparent
and thorough and that FDA's statement that the feed industry
is 99 percent in compliance with the feed ban is fair and
accurate.”
Hodges
added: USDA's BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) surveillance
program is further testament to the feed ban's success.
USDA has tested more than 275,000 cattle since June 1, 2004,
with no positive cases. FDA's feed restrictions should be
credited with preventing the spread of BSE in the U.S.”
GAO's
responsibility is to provide constructive criticism, Hodges
said. “FDA has properly evaluated GAO's recommendations
and no doubt these will only make a good program even better,”
he explained.
Most
BSE experts agree that BSE is caused by an aberrant protein,
called a prion, which resides in the infected animal's nerve
tissue. The brain-destroying disease is spread from bovine
to bovine when the infected nerve tissue is rendered and
fed to other bovines. Some nutritionists argue that rendered
ruminant protein is safe and a valuable dietary protein
source for non-ruminant animals, such as swine and poultry.
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