Canadian officials have announced that effective July 12, 2007, specified risk materials (SRMs) from cattle will be banned from all animal feeds, pet foods, and fertilizers as an accelerated enhancement to Canada’s eradication of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This measure is in addition to feed controls put in place in 1997 prohibiting the use of ruminant proteins in ruminant feed, which has been attributed to the low level of BSE in Canada. Since May 2003, seven cases of BSE have been detected in Canada’s herd of roughly 17 million cattle. In the new measure, SRMs are defined as the skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia (nerves attached to the brain), eyes, tonsils, spinal cord, and dorsal root ganglia (nerves attached to the spinal cord) of cattle 30 months of age or older, and the distal ileum (portion of the small intestine) of cattle of all ages. These tissues have been shown in infected cattle to contain concentrated levels of the BSE agent.
According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), excluding SRMs in all animal feeds will address potential contamination that could occur during feed production, transportation, storage, and use on the farm. Removing SRMs from pet food and fertilizers is intended to mitigate the risk associated with the potential exposure of cattle and other susceptible animals to BSE through the misuse of these products. CFIA Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Brian Evans said that the measure does not guarantee that BSE won’t still be found in Canadian cattle, but the new feed ban will help eradicate the disease in 10 years or less based on computer models and “put it [BSE] fully behind us.”
A driving force behind CFIA’s decision to implement the new regulation, under review since December 2004, was Canada’s beef export markets. Many are still closed after the country found its first indigenous BSE case in May 2003. CFIA officials consulted with meat packers, processors, an international scientific panel, and international trading partners prior to going forth with the regulation. The government believes many markets will reopen almost immediately upon announcement of the measure, which is internationally recognized as the most effective way to protect the safety of food from BSE. The measure also applies to imported feeds and has since 2003.
While the regulation does not state how to dispose of the prohibited material, Evans specified that until emerging technologies find new uses for the product, it could be incinerated or rendered and landfilled. As is the current case for dead stock, disposal of SRMs will largely be a provincial responsibility. Provinces are generally supportive of the rationale for full SRM removal. CFIA has set aside $80 million (Canadian) to work with the provinces to assist industry’s implementation of the new feed controls. Handling and processing of the prohibited material, whether at a slaughterhouse or rendering plant, will be done under a permit system.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that both countries have been in close contact as each developed their respective regulations. Even though the risk of BSE is extremely low in the United States, FDA issued a proposed rule in October 2005 that would prohibit the use of certain high-risk cattle materials in animal feed to further reduce the already “extraordinarily” low probability of BSE. FDA is analyzing and evaluating the approximately 800 public comments it received to the proposal and stated in late June that it “plans to develop and issue a final rule as expeditiously as possible.”
According to CFIA, there are 29 rendering facilities in Canada, with only six currently permitted to handle both prohibited and non-prohibited material. Two-thirds of Canada’s rendering facilities are owned and operated by large corporations that include international vertically integrated food companies. Seven rendering facilities are attached to federally registered slaughter plants, which helps to ensure that these companies have very tight control over the rendering and disposition of raw material from their operations.
In 2003, Canadian renderers processed approximately 2.2 million metric tons of inedible animal by-products. Products manufactured included approximately 478,000 metric tons of meat and bone meal, which included cattle, pork, poultry, and fish protein meals; approximately 535,000 metric tons of animal fats, fatty acids, and oils; and 77,600 metric tons of blood and feather protein meals.
All of Canada’s rendering plants are members of the U.S.-based Animal Protein Producers Industry, which sponsors the adoption of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point quality assurance programs. Large rendering facilities representing 74 percent of the annual production have implemented these process controls, which includes a third-party audit to ensure compliance.
In a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement released with the rule, CFIA estimates the aggregate annual volume of raw bovine waste (both non-SRM and SRM) generated by the industry and collected commercially to be 642,509 metric tons, of which 92 percent (589,075 metric tons) is from abattoirs and the remaining eight percent (53,434 metric tons) from dead stock. It is estimated that full SRM removal will result in some 264,140 metric tons (up to 41 percent) of the total raw bovine waste being collected and treated as though it were SRM. This amount can be divided into three SRM sources:
• dead stock – 53,434 metric tons (eight percent of total cattle waste volume);
• provincial abattoirs – 123,484 metric tons (19 percent of total cattle waste volume); and,
• federal abattoirs – 87,222 metric tons (14 percent of total cattle waste volume).
According to the analysis, if rendered to reduce volume and extract fat value, the remaining meat and bone meal volume would be roughly 70,525 metric tons. The full analysis statement is available on the Internet at www.inspection.gc.ca/english/reg/appro/2006/20098ria_e.shtml. Information on BSE activities in Canada can be found at www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/disemala/bseesb/bseesbindexe.shtml.
Two More BSE Cases Found
Following on the heels of the SRM ban announcement, test results within 10 days of each other confirmed two more cases of BSE in Canada. The first, announced July 4, 2006, was in a 15-year-old cross-bred beef cow from Manitoba, which means the animal was born well before the 1997 introduction of Canada’s feed ban. The second case was reported July 13 in a 50-month-old dairy cow from Alberta, meaning the animal was exposed to BSE after the 1997 feed ban. Neither animal entered the human or animal feed systems.
U.S. agricultural officials said the latest case, Canada’s seventh, raises “questions that must be answered,” due to the animal being born roughly four-and-a-half years after the implementation of Canada’s feed ban.
“We need a thorough understanding of all the circumstances involved in this case to assure our consumers that Canada’s regulatory system is effectively providing the utmost protections to consumers and livestock,” stated U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Mike Johanns. A USDA expert will participate in CFIA’s investigation of this case, particularly as it relates to how the animal may have been exposed to BSE-infected material. CFIA welcomed USDA’s participation.
As of press time, CFIA investigators had already located the birth farm of the 50-month-old cow and were tracing other cattle born on the premises within 12 months before or after the birth of the affected animal. The agency’s investigative efforts into the 15-year-old animal may be constrained by few surviving animals and limited sources of information, such as detailed records, due to the animal’s advanced age. The animal was purchased by the owner as part of an assembled group of cattle in 1992. Nonetheless, the agency is attempting to locate the birth farm, which will provide the basis needed to identify the animal’s herd mates and feed to which it may have been exposed at a young age. A calf born to the affected animal in 2004 is also being traced.
Both infected animals were detected through Canada’s national surveillance program, which targets the highest risk animal populations.
Investigation into Fifth Case Completed
CFIA has completed its investigation into the country’s fifth case of BSE, discovered April 16, 2006, in a six-year-old dairy cow from British Columbia. The investigation identified 148 animals, including the affected animal’s herd mates and recent offspring. From this group, 22 live animals were located and all tested negative for BSE. On additional animal, which is pregnant, was placed under quarantine and will be tested once it has calved.
Of the remaining animals investigated, 77 had died or been slaughtered, 15 were exported to the United States, and 33 were untraceable. According to a U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service official, all but one of the 15 exported animals had been slaughtered. The one live animal found tested negative.
CFIA investigators examined feed that the affected animal would have been exposed to early in its life. While a specific source of infection was not found, investigators determined that vehicles and equipment used to ship and receive a variety of ingredients likely contaminated cattle feed with the BSE agent.
The investigation noted high compliance with Canada’s feed ban and identified a feed ingredient supplier common to this case and Canada’s fourth BSE animal, confirmed on January 22, 2006. This potential link suggests that all of Canada’s BSE cases fall within the same geographic cluster. The clustering theory is explained in the epidemiological report, Canada’s Assessment of the North American BSE Cases Diagnosed from 2003 to 2005, available on the CFIA Web site at www.inspection.gc.ca.
International Report - August 2006 Render