BSE incidence in Ireland extremely low, says board

THE incidence of BSE in Ireland continues to be extremely low, based on a national herd of seven million cattle, according to the Food Safety Advisory Board.

It calls for tighter controls on cattle slaughtering and increased monitoring of the incidence of CJD, the human form of BSE.

The report calls for:

. rigorous ante-mortem examination of cattle, particularly those of an age more prone to be clinically-infected with BSE, so that animals showing clinical signs of disease are excluded from food and feed.

. a continuation of exclusion from food of specified risk material from the brain and spinal cord, and restriction of mechanically recovered meat from bovine vertebrae in food or feed.

. "slaughter-out" of BSE-infected herds and disposal of such herds in a manner that protects both animals and humans.

"Notwithstanding present prohibitions, the use of mammalian meat and bone meal in the feed of non-ruminant animals should, as a matter of urgency, be examined by the Department of Agriculture and Food," the report adds.

The report states that based on current understanding, the implementation of the recommendations, together with the extremely low level of BSE agent in cattle in Ireland and the extensive use of grass in the diet, will protect the consumer.

The FSAB calls for Government support of research on BSE. It states: "At present there is no scientific evidence that BSE can be transmitted to man by eating beef. Recently, however, it has been postulated that a distinct variant of CJD in the UK, in the absence of any more credible alternative, may be linked to the consumption of bovine products, which prior to 1990 may have been contaminated by infected brain or spinal cord."