The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has released an updated Harvard risk assessment model and report for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The previous risk assessment, released in October 2003, was revised to incorporate information available through December 2003, including the discovery of a BSE-infected cow in the state of Washington. The revised risk assessment model evaluates the impact of measures implemented after the discovery of the BSE-positive cow and recommendations made by an international BSE panel. The updated risk assessment is available on FSIS’s Web site at www.fsis.usda.gov/science/risk_assessments/index.asp.
FSIS held a public meeting July 25, 2006, to discuss the updated assessment and accepted comments on the document until August 11. The official transcript of the meeting will be made available on FSIS’s Web site when it becomes available.*
August 2006 Render
*Update that appears in the October 2006 Render:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has extended the comment period for the 2005 updated Harvard risk assessment of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to October 27, 2006. The original comment period closed on August 11, 2006, but the agency extended that deadline in response to a comment that was submitted after FSIS held its July 25, 2006, technical meeting to provide information on the updated risk assessment model and report.
The comment submitted requested that the agency extend the comment period until 45 days from the day the transcript of the July meeting is publicly available. The agency agreed that the matters presented in the risk assessment are complex and extended the comment period for 45 days after it posted the transcript of the technical meeting on the FSIS Web site at www.fsis.usda.gov/pdf/bse_transcript_072506.pdf on September 12, 2006.