PARMA, Italy ¯ Among the 10 million cattle tested each year in the first 15 countries to join the European Union (EU 15) cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy has dropped off dramatically since 2001. According to the European Food Safety Authority, the number of B.S.E. cases detected in cattle in these countries fell from 2,164 in 2001 to 149 in 2007.
Two opinions on monitoring for B.S.E. in the countries have recently been published by The Biological Hazards Panel of the European Food Safety Authority.
If the age for testing for B.S.E. increases from the present 30 months to 36 or 48 months of age for slaughtered cattle, less than one B.S.E. case in cattle could be expected to be missed annually in the whole EU 15, according to the panel. If the age for testing increases to 60, 72 and 84 months of age, then fewer than two, four and six B.S.E. cases, respectively, could be expected to be missed in these 15 EU member states.
The "at-risk" group of cattle was also assessed by the panel and it said if the age for testing for B.S.E. in cattle "at risk" increases from the current 24 months to 30, 36 or 48 months, then less than one case could be expected to be missed annually in the EU 15. If the testing age was extended to 60 months of age, fewer than three cases could be expected to be missed.
Source: MeatPoultry.com