Inconclusive, transparency, and traceability: three words that will forever be in our vocabulary.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiated its accelerated bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance program on June 1, 2004. A lot of planning and preparation was done before the program started. As well intentioned as it was, it will take some time to get it running on all cylinders.
The program is a huge undertaking. Renderers have been enlisted to assist with the surveillance program. It is expected that a sub-stantial number of the samples will be collected at rendering facilities.
The USDA announced it wanted to make the surveillance program as transparent as possible. In doing so, it determined that so-called false positives from the rapid screening tests would be called “inconclusives.” These inconclusives would be announced as soon as they became known. They would not give any other details on these inconclusives until they were sent to the national diagnostic lab in Ames, IA, for confirmation. If the results came back negative, there would be no further information necessary. If the results were positive, we would learn everything. The confirmed animal would be traced to its origins and every place it had been in between.
The first inconclusive was announced June 25th after about 8,000 rapid tests had been taken. The second inconclusive was announced four days later.
As expected, there was a lot of commotion with the first announced inconclusive. The media played it as if it were the real thing. The fact that USDA would not give any details on the suspect animal brought out the Sherlock Holmes in many ambitious reporters. Early rumors had a steer in Arizona as the first suspect animal, and then it was a dairy cow, then a beef cow in California. No rumors were confirmed. The cattle markets reacted negatively for a day or two and then returned to what is a very strong market.
By the Fourth of July weekend, we were relieved to learn the first two inconclusives were confirmed to be negative by the national lab in Ames.
We can, and should, expect more inconclusives as the surveillance program continues. The USDA will no longer call a press conference every time there is an inconclusive test. They will simply list the incon-clusives and announce their confir-mation test on their Web site. One of the more aggressive reporters told me he wasn’t chasing this story anymore. Let’s hope others follow his lead.
Possible Changes Ahead
Several agencies of the federal government have joined forces in coming forward with an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR). With this ANPR, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) are asking a wide range of questions that they hope will help them better understand what new measures might be needed to further mitigate the risk of BSE in the United States (see “FDA Unleashes Proposed Feed Rule,” page 10).
This unusual ANPR was to be published July 14. APHIS and FSIS are providing a 60-day comment period to get its questions answered and allow public input. FDA is only allowing a 30-day comment period.
An ANPR is often the initial step in the rule making process. Once input is received from an ANPR, it is then determined whether to propose new rules or make changes to existing ones. There will be additional comment periods. The timetable is unpredictable. It will take some time for everyone to get things sorted out. We are still several months away from any implemented changes to the existing rules.
The National Renderers Association (NRA) and the rendering industry will be busy developing a response to those questions appropriate to the rendering industry. There are interested parties that want to see drastic changes in the current regulations that would significantly alter the rendering industry as we know it today. NRA will be doing everything possible to protect the interests of the industry. The challenge will be to make sure decisions will be supported with sound science and economic justification.
Make plans to be in New Orleans, LA, October 18-23, 2004, for the 71st Annual National Renderers Association (NRA) Convention. It will be an action packed week for renderers. The Animal Protein Producers Industry and the Fats and Proteins Research Foundation will be holding their annual meetings in conjunction with the NRA meetings at the same location.
Among the speakers scheduled are USDA Under Secretary J. B. Penn and nationally recognized historian Douglas Brinkley. To get all of the information about the meeting, either call the NRA at (703) 683-0155, or log onto to www.renderers.org.
If you have an interest in the rendering industry, you can’t afford not to be in New Orleans in October.
From the Association - August 2004 Render