Canada Bans SRMs in All Animal Feed

June 27, 2006 - Canadian officials announced yesterday 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, five 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 (nerved attached to the brain), eyes, tonsils, spinal cord, and dorsal root ganglia (nerved 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 today’s 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.

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.


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