Product recalls in the first week after the diagnosis included all meat slaughtered at Vern’s Moses Lake Meats on December 9 and a voluntary hold on 800 tons of animal by-products processed at Baker Commodities’ Seattle and Tacoma, WA, plants, between December 11th and 23rd. Baker was eventually required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to dispose of 1,400 tons of meat and bone meal (MBM) in a Class I landfill.
On December 30, USDA Secretary Ann Veneman announced an immediate ban of non-ambulatory, or “downer,” animals from the human food supply. In addition, three rules and one notice were published in the January 12, 2004, Federal Register to further strengthen protection against BSE.
• An interim final rule declaring that specified risk materials (SRMs) – the skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, vertebral column, spinal cord, and dorsal root ganglia – of cattle 30 months of age or older, and the small intestine of all cattle, are prohibited in the food supply (tonsils were already excluded). These prohibitions became effective immediately upon publication in the register.
• An interim final rule expanding on the prohibition of central nervous system tissues in advanced meat recovery products.
• A final rule to prohibit air-injection stunning.
• A notice announcing that inspectors will not mark ambulatory cattle that have been targeted for BSE surveillance testing as “inspected and passed” until negative test results are obtained.
On January 26, FDA announced two interim final rules that took effect immediately upon publication. The first interim final rule bans any material from downer or dead cattle, SRMs, and mechanically separated beef in human food or cosmetics.
The second interim final rule is designed to lower the risk further that cattle will be purposefully or inadvertently fed prohibited protein. The rule implements four specific changes in FDA’s present animal feed rule.
• Prohibits currently exempted mammalian blood and blood products to be fed to other ruminants.
• Prohibits the use of poultry litter as a feed ingredient for ruminant animals.
• Bans the use of “plate waste” as a feed ingredient for ruminants.
• Requires equipment, facilities, or production lines to be dedicated to non-ruminant animal feeds if they use protein that is prohibited in ruminant feed.
FDA will also step up its inspections of feed mills and renderers in 2004, conducting 2,800 inspections itself and working with state agencies to fund or receive data on 3,800 contract and partnership inspections of feed mills, renderers, and other firms that handle animal feed and feed ingredients. More on FDA’s actions can be found at www.rendermagazine.com.
Although over 40 countries have stopped importing U.S. beef, which accounts for 10 percent of the country’s annual beef production, the detection has only had a minor affect on Americans. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey conducted in early January found that only about one in six Americans have cut back or stopped eating meat because of concern about the disease.
Most rendered product customers appear to be feeling the same way, with a few exceptions. An informal survey of renderers throughout the United States found most are trying to conduct business as usual, taking a wait and see approach, and fulfilling new opportunities.
Several renderers reported that the poultry industry has increased their inclusion of MBM in rations up to as much as 15 percent, due primarily to the drop in MBM prices. While the usage increase might be short-term, renderers are welcoming the chance to sell their products, especially those who have had export contracts canceled. One renderer explained that containers of MBM awaiting export had to be shipped back to their midwest plant from the west coast at a loss of $3,600 per container.
But not all poultry producers are jumping on the MBM bandwagon. One renderer has lost a large “egg raiser” customer due to “perception.” The poultry company decided it wasn’t worth the risk of their customers not buying poultry products that were fed animal proteins.
Other opportunities are being seen with poultry by-product meal and feather meal. Countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and isolated parts in China are showing an interest in poultry and feather meals at the benefit of render-ers who produce these products.
Packer renderers are probably the hardest hit within the industry. One company is adding about 30 pounds per head of raw material to their rendering process due to the lack of export markets, which is causing a backup of rendered products.
One area of uncertainty for renderers is the required disposal of non-ambulatory cattle, which USDA officials estimate at 200,000 animals, and how government regulations will dictate how these animals are handled.
With regards to tallow, major customers are requesting one renderer to guarantee a maximum of 0.15 percent impurities in tallow, which will require some equipment be added for the company to accommodate the request at all their facilities. Research has shown that tallow does not carry the infective agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), such as BSE, and that normal industrial tallow production processes – even those using the lowest time/temperature combinations – produce a product that is free of detectable TSE infectivity.
Despite uncertainties about the future, including possible new regulations on feed, one renderer is optimistic about the future of the industry and the role it can play in the feed chain. He said the challenges will take creative thinking, hard lobbying, educating regulators, and a cohesive voice from the industry.
Another renderer believes the industry will change in some way and suffer an economic downturn during “the transition of unknowns.” But he has confidence that many renderers will experience some opportunities along the way and that “everything will shake out in the end.”
Newsline - February 2004 Render