USDA Issues Five Interim Final Rules/Notices to Implement Additional BSE Protection Measures
In December 2003, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would soon issue several additional measures intended to further strengthen protections against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease.
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The USDA has now published these additional protection measures in the January 12, 2004 Federal Register as follows:
Notice on Declaration of Extraordinary Emergency Because of BSE. This declaration, effective January 6, 2004, states that the USDA has determined that the State of Washington may be unable to adequately take the measures necessary to quarantine and dispose of animals that may be infected with or exposed to BSE. Under the declaration, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to take certain actions to prevent the dissemination of BSE.
Notice on BSE Surveillance Program. The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a notice which announces that it will no longer pass and apply the mark of inspection to the carcasses and parts from cattle that are selected for testing by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for BSE until the sample is determined to be negative. FSIS is issuing a directive to its inspection program personnel that sets out this course of action.
Prohibition of Use of Certain Specified Risk Materials for Human Food & Requirements for the Disposition of Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle. In an interim final rule effective January 12, 2004, FSIS announces that it is amending the Federal meat inspection regulations to designate the brain, skull, eyes, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cord, vertebral column (excluding the vertebrae of the tail, the transverse processes of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, and the wings of the sacrum), and the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of cattle 30 months of age and older, and the tonsils and distal ileum of the small intestine of all cattle as "specified risk materials". FSIS is declaring these specified risk materials inedible and is prohibiting their use for human food.
According to FSIS sources, this interim final rule will have the effect of prohibiting the use of mechanically separated meat in human food as such product contains the above-specified specified risk materials.
This interim final rule also, among other things, requires that all non-ambulatory disabled cattle presented for slaughter be condemned.
Meat Produced by Advanced Meat/Bone Separation Machinery and Meat Recovery (AMR) Systems. This interim final rule, effective January 12, 2004, concerns meat produced by AMR systems and finalizes restrictions related to bone solids and bone marrow for livestock products. In this interim final rule, FSIS articulates the criteria that it will use to ensure that AMR products can be represented as "meat" and thus are not adulterated or misbranded. Among other things, this interim final rule amends the definition of "meat" and sets forth restrictions on the AMR product's content of calcium, added iron, brain or trigeminal ganglia tissues, etc.
Prohibition of Use of Certain Stunning Devices Used to Immobilize Cattle During Slaughter. FSIS' third interim final rule is also effective January 12, 2004 and serves to prohibit the use of penetrative captive bolt stunning devices that deliberately inject air into the cranial cavity of cattle.
In this interim final rule, FSIS states that meat products exported from another country to the U.S. must meet all safety standards applied to meat food products produced in the U.S. Therefore, once this rule is in effect, foreign establishments that use air-injection stunning for cattle would be prohibited from importing beef products into the U.S. Thus, prohibiting the use of air-injection stunning in the U.S. would also address the potential risk associated with imported beef products produced from cattle stunned using air-injection.
-For the three interim final rules, comments received on or before April 12, 2004 will be considered prior to issuance of final rules.
FSIS Contact - Daniel Engeljohn (202) 205-0495
USDA Notices and Interim Final Rules (FR Pub 01/12/04) available at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a040112c.html under 'Agriculture Department' and 'Food Safety and Inspection Service'
BP Note
FSIS sources have confirmed that these interim final rules and notices are a comprehensive package of the additional BSE protection measures that USDA announced in December 2003. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/02/04 news, 04010200, for BP summary of USDA's announcement of these additional protection measures.)