CDC Funds Center for Mad Cow

Posted on December 31, 2007 by Mad Cow

The National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University is getting $27.5 million from the Centers for Disease Control--enough to continue its work for another five years.   The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Sarah Jane Tribble wrote that:

"The center became a national hot spot when mad cow disease, which is the newest strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, hit global headlines several years ago. Hospitals nationwide send suspected cases to Cleveland to be tested. And earlier this year the center was part of an international study that announced a new prion protein that may provide insight into how the brain functions with the disease.

"Mad cow disease is the best known of several brain-wasting diseases for humans and animals thought to be associated with malformed proteins called prions. Another disorder in this family includes chronic wasting disease, which has infected Wisconsin deer.

"Since 1997, neurologists and pathologists have sent brain tissue and spinal specimens from nearly 3,000 individuals to Case, which confirmed about 1,500 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Pierluigi Gambetti, center director,  said.

"To date, Gambetti said the center has not found any cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating contaminated beef, elk or deer meat in the United States. "But we have to keep looking because otherwise we may indeed miss it," he said. "

Having the Cleveland center to call upon may be timely for Japan, which just discovered its 34th case of mad cow disease, and Canada, which turned up its 11th case of BSE since 2003.

The National Prion center was founded in 1997 and is the only one of its kind in the United States.

 

Tags:

Mad Cow Walks On PM's Story

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Mad Cow

Canada's new Prime Minister Stephen Harper wanted to put food safety front and center this week, but he probably did not want help from an aged Alberta cow who showed up with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Here's how it played out.  On Monday, the PM announced the Government of Canada would be taking preventive measures in 2008 to ensure food safety.  On Tuesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the 13-year old beef cow from Alberta did suffer from BSE. The animal's carcass was said to be under CFIA control and no part of it entered either the human or animal food systems.

The discovery will not change Canada's risk status for BSE under World Organization for Animal Health guidelines.  That is because the aged cow was born before Canada's feed ban went into effect in 1997.

The PM meanwhile is promising to "transform the government’s approach to regulating product safety. For the first time in Canada, instead of merely reacting to problems, the regulations will be designed to prevent them."

New measures will include:

  • Mandatory product recalls when companies fail to act on legitimate safety concerns.
  • Making importers responsible for the safety of goods they bring into Canada.
  • Increasing maximum fines under the Food and Drug Act from $5,000 up to current international standards.
  • Better safety information for consumers and guidance to industries on building safety throughout their supply chains.

    Because of the date of the feed ban, Canada expects it will continue to identify a small number of BSE infected animals over the next decade or so.  The detection program has tested about 190,000 of the animals considerd most at risk.  The government says the surveillance results reflect an extremely low incidence of BSE in Canada.

    Harper food safety remarks were delivered in Ottawa at a Salvation Army Toy Depot.   The aged Mad Cow was found on a farm near Red Deer, Alberta.

    • Tags:

    Feeding cattle with pet food risks Mad Cow Disease

    Posted on December 19, 2007 by Mad Cow

    Utah's ranchers got a stern warning yesterday from the state veterinarian: feeding cattle with pet food could cause Mad Cow Disease.   Dawn House at the Salt Lake Tribune reported  that high hay costs and burned out ranges could tempt some ranchers into using pet food linked to Mad Cow.

    Some pet foods contain animal byproducts that if fed to beef or dairy cows pose the threat of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, says state veterinarian Earl Rogers.
    "It is possible that some pet food manufacturers who have heard of the depletion of feed sources in Utah because of drought and fire may offer their scrap material to Utah ranchers," said Rogers. "Both buyers and sellers must know that any pet food containing cattle or other ruminant material cannot be fed to other cattle."
    Feeding pet food to cattle, which is banned under state and federal law, could result in the slaughter of an entire herd, he said.

    The Tribune went on to report that Utah officials are worried that some ranchers may be tempted to supplement cattle feed with banned material because often pet food is fed to swine and poultry.  Feed for cattle isn't suppose to contain certain ruminant protein from beef.

    Mad Cow Disease, known in science as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, has struck 140 people in the United Kingdom and one person in the United States.  That person, however, was probably living in the UK when stricken.

    Ranchers in the West this winter are dealing with some of the highest feed prices in history.  Drought and fire have also impacted their own productive capacities for the near future.

    Tags:

    Japan blames Dutch for 1995-6 Mad Cow Outbreaks

    Posted on December 17, 2007 by Mad Cow

    Phyllis Entis isn't buying the single milk substitute theory as the reason why 33 cows in Japan came down with bovine spongiform encephalopathy ten years ago.
    The Japanese Agricultural Ministry released an investigative report Friday (12/14/07) that blamed Dutch-produced animal fat powder that was used as a milk substitute for the outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease in Hokkaido and Kanto.
    Entis, a food safety microbiologist, who writes for eFoodAlertcom says the theory that Japanese cows got Mad Cow Disease from Dutch animal fat is an old one. CNN offered it up in 2001. 
    "There are other possible explantions for the Japanese mad cow outbreak, " she wrote. "The     milk substitute was actually processed in Japan, using animal fat from the Netherlands as one ingredient. The powder might have been contaminated by meat and bone meal--a high risk material for mad cow transmission ---during mixing. Another source might have been dried cattle blood, which is sometimes used as an ingredient in milk substitute for feeding cattle"

    Tags:

    Cold Cash Follows Mad Cow

    Posted on December 6, 2007 by Bill Marler

    We’re coming up on the 5th anniversary of the discovery of Mad Cow disease in the United States. It came here with an unfortunate little cow from Canada that found its way to Washington State.
    It ended, for a long time, U.S beef exports. The cost to the U.S. economy? $6 billion a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Somewhat less, according to Kansas State University.

    Now U.S. beef is getting back in the overseas pipeline. Last May, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) cleared U.S. beef from animals of any age as a “controlled BSE risk” and therefore safe for export.

    BSE, of course, is Bovine spongiform encephalopathy---science’s name for Mad Cow Disease. Other countries with controlled BSE risk include Brazil, Canada, Chile, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
    If you are looking for countries with less BSE risk, you might want to look at beef from Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Singapore, and Uruguay. Those countries have “negligible” BSE risk, according to the OIE.

    Russia, however, is looking to cut a deal for genuine U.S. beef. With its pockets filled with dollars from selling us oil at near $100 per barrel, Russia wants some pricey cuts of U.S. beef, according to a Dec. 3, 2007 report in the Wall Street Journal. (“From Mad Cow to Cash Cow).

    WSJ reported that before it banned U.S. beef, Russians mostly consumed cheaper cuts, livers, hearts, and kidneys. Now, Russia in the market for more expensive beef cuts.

    One thing is for certain, however. It will be a long time before U.S. beef makes up for the mistake it made when it brought that little cow over the Canadian border.

    Tags: , , ,