The Federal government has a number of programs to protect public health and the beef industry from BSE, most dating from the early 1990s.

Ruminant feed ban: The primary initiative for preventing the spread of BSE to U.S. cattle and within the cattle population, should it get into the country, is the ruminant feed ban. The inclusion of rendered mammalian protein in feed for ruminants was prohibited in August 1997. FDA extended the feed ban to prohibit the inclusion of high risk cattle materials in feed for all animal species from October 26, 2009.

Keeping BSE prions out of human food:

Prohibition on “Downers”: Until December 30, 2003, “downer” cattle could be slaughtered for human food once they had passed inspection for signs of disease by a USDA veterinarian, while a sample of brain tissue was taken for BSE analysis as part of the surveillance program. Under the newer rule, cattle that are downers for any reason may not be slaughtered for human food.

Getting Central Nervous System (CNS) tissue off the table: Three primary methods of accomplishing this are:

  • banning the brain and spinal cord tissue of animals 30 months of age or older from the human food supply;
  • banning the use of air-gun stunning, which can cause CNS tissue to move into and to contaminate muscle tissue; and
  • requiring processors to show routinely that tissue separated from the carcass using advanced meat recovery systems (AMR) does not contain CNS tissue.

Detecting BSE in the US cattle population

After the first US case of BSE in 2003, the government developed an enhanced surveillance program to determine the probability of BSE in United States cattle. Under the enhanced surveillance program, 647,045 samples were collected from 5,776 unique sites across the United States between June 1, 2004 and March 17, 2006. Of these samples, two were confirmed positive (0.0003% of the sampled population). The USDA used this data to develop a maintenance surveillance program testing approximately 40,00 animal per year.

Responding efficiently to the detection of BSE

The federal government has a BSE Response Plan that defines the actions agencies will take when BSE is detected – to contain the disease, trace the source, identify potential spreaders, indemnify farmers and protect public health. The degree of their success has a direct impact on beef economic markets.

The highly integrated nature of the North American beef industry requires that the United States, Canada and Mexico adopt a coordinated approach to address both the regulatory and trade aspects of BSE challenges. Maintaining consumer confidence in the safety of beef is fundamental to the management of BSE and remains a top priority among the three governments endeavoring to improve the international approach to BSE.

National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) was developed in 2002 as a way to improve the testing and surveillance of domestic animal diseases that are a potential threat to animal and public health and the national economy.