On April 24, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed the nation's 4th case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in an animal that was sampled for the disease at a rendering facility in central California. It is important that this animal was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, did not enter food supply channels, and at no time presented any risk to human health. The positive animal was tested as part of targeted BSE surveillance at rendering facilities. The United States has a longstanding system of three interlocking safeguards against BSE that protects public and animal health in the country, the most important of which is the removal of specified risk materials - or the parts of an animal that would contain BSE should an animal have the disease - from all animals presented for slaughter in the United States. The second safeguard is a strong feed ban that protects cattle from the disease. The third safeguard - which led to this detection - is the country’s ongoing BSE surveillance programme that allows USDA to detect the disease if it exists at very low levels in the U.S. cattle population.
Source: United States Department of Agriculture
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