Britain will test more cattle for BSE

Complying with requirements from the European Union, Britain will start testing the brains of thousands more cattle for mad cow disease from next month, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on June 26. Testing of older at-risk cattle, which have died on the farms, will start on July 1 as part of an effort to gauge more accurately the extent of Britain's mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), epidemic. "The BSE epidemic continues to decline in Britain along predicted lines. The number of BSE suspects reported so far this year is 45 per cent lower than in the same period last year,"​ Elliot Morely, animal health minister, said in a statement. Some scientists have criticised Britain for failing in the past to test all older animals that died on farms. Britain has detected nearly 180,000 cases of BSE since the first case in 1986. Just over 200 cases have been found so far this year. The EU has backed as additional protection a move to cut the age of at-risk cattle for testing from 30 months to 24. At-risk cattle are those sent for emergency slaughter, those found sick at slaughter and those that die on farms. It also agreed that EU member states should have the option to test healthy cattle less than 30 months on a voluntary basis and that this should not discriminate against trade. Britain has said it would test some cattle at 24 months, but stuck to its policy of excluding from the food chain all meat from cattle over 30 months, which are considered to be most at risk of harbouring the disease. "We support the right of other countries to test all cattle over 24 months, but in UK conditions we do not believe that testing under 30 months would provide additional public health,"​ the Food Standards Agency​ said. Source: Reuters​