| A
suspected case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a
goat slaughtered in France in 2002 has been confirmed by
a panel of European scientists. Now, the European Commission
is proposing to step up testing to determine if this is
an isolated incident.
Although
this is the first time that BSE has been found in a goat
under natural conditions, precautionary measures to protect
consumers have been applied in the E.U. for several years.
The Commission said that the level of transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies infection in goats seems to be extremely
low, and any possible risk to consumers is minimal. TSEs
include BSE affecting cattle and scrapie affecting goats
and sheep.
The
European Commission asked French authorities to submit their
preliminary findings to the Community Reference Laboratory
for TSEs based in Weybridge, United Kingdom.
Markos
Kyprianou, E.U. Commissioner responsible for Health and
Consumer Protection, said: “I want to reassure consumers
that existing safety measures in the E.U. offer a very high
level of protection. This case was discovered thanks to
the E.U. testing system in place in France. The testing
program has shown us that there is a very low incidence
rate of TSEs in goats and allowed us to detect suspect animals
so that they can be taken out of the food chain, as was
done with this goat and its entire herd. I am proposing
to extend testing further to determine whether this is an
isolated incident.”
The
safety measures that have existed for several years include
the ban on feeding animal proteins in the form of meat-and-bone
meal, the removal of specified risk materials -- brain,
spinal cord, and part of the intestines -- from the food
and feed chain, the slaughtering of herds affected by scrapie,
a disease of goats and sheep similar to BSE but not infectious
to humans, and a TSE monitoring and testing program in all
E.U. member states.
More
than 140,000 goats have been tested since April 2002, including
random testing of healthy animals, sick animals, and those
that died on the farm. Following the confirmation of BSE
in a goat, the Commission proposed increased testing for
BSE among goats for at least six months -- 200 000 tests
of healthy goats -- to determine if this is an isolated
incident.
The
extent of the monitoring program will be based on the goat
population in each country in the E.U. and will focus primarily
on countries where BSE is present in the cattle population.
All confirmed TSE cases will be subjected to a three-step
testing scheme, already in use, which will make it possible
to differentiate between scrapie and BSE. These additional
measures will be submitted for member states approval at
the next meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain
and Animal Health scheduled on February 2-3, 2005.
The
European Commission said that the conditions that existed
when the affected goat was born in 2000 no longer exist
and available evidence would suggest that even if the infection
still exists in goats, the level would be extremely low.
The feeding of meat-and-bone meal to ruminants is generally
considered to be the transmission route of BSE. In January
2001 the existing ban on feeding MBM to all ruminants was
extended to a total ban on feeding MBM to all farmed animals.
Goats in the E.U. generally only live for a few years, which
means that the majority of goats in the E.U. were born after
the total feed ban was put in place.
The
European Food Safety Authority says that based on current
scientific knowledge, goat milk, and derived products are
unlikely to present any risk of TSE contamination if the
milk comes from healthy animals.
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