Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1979
Changes to rendering treatment parameters
1985
First suspect cases of BSE
1986
BSE identified as a new disease entity
1988
BSE made a notifiable disease
1988
Ban on use of milk from BSE suspects other than for feeding to the cow's own calf
1989
Meat and bone meal in animal feed identified as source of infectivity and banned from ruminant feed
1990
Specified material (certain tissues likely to contain most infectivity) controlled and removed from food chain
1995
First cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) identified in Great Britain
1996
Link between vCJD and BSE established - March 1996
EU ban on trade of beef from the United Kingdom
Ban on use of meat from cattle more than 30 months of age at slaughter. The Over Thirty Month Scheme (OTMS) set up to
dispose of cattle aged over 30 months at slaughter. Specified material extended to other cattle tissues and to sheep.
Approval of XAP scheme which allowed beef processors to bring beef from outside the United Kingdom, process it under
supervision and export it to other member states
1997
Bone in beef prohibited for retail sale due to risk identified in experimental work. Ban was short lived due to apparent
public demand for T-bone steaks
1998
The Export Certified Herd Scheme was agreed only for Northern Ireland to allow beef from animals from certain herds
slaughtered and processed under certain conditions to be exported to other member states. The scheme collapsed due to
the slaughter of ineligible animals
1999
The Date-Based Export Scheme agreed for United Kingdom allowing beef from animals born after 1 August 1996 meeting
additional criteria and slaughtered and processed under controlled conditions to be exported to other member states
2000
Introduction of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) testing of brainstem samples collected from animals at
slaughter and OTMS animals at the rendering plant
2001
EU legislation introducing controls in all member states to control and eradicate BSE and scrapie in sheep, specified tissue
and animal feed controls. BSE testing fully implemented
2005
Beef from over-thirty-month (OTM) animals returns to the food chain. Testing of all OTM animals required as part of disease
surveillance. Animals born before 1 August 1996 cannot be used for human consumption
2006
UK export ban lifted
The OTM Scheme ends and the Old Cow Disposal Scheme (OCDS) begins as an outlet for animals born before
1 August 1996
2009
End of the OCDS
TSE testing of animals at slaughter moved from over 30 to over 48 months. All surviving pre-1996 animals banned from the
food chain permanently
2011
TSE testing of animals at slaughter moved from over 48 to over 72 months
2012
No recorded deaths or new suspect vCJD cases in United Kingdom since first cases were recorded in 1995
Total of 176 vCJD deaths since 1995
Routine TSE testing of animals at slaughter stopped with testing of a small number of 'high-risk' animals only
put in place. The following is a brief chronology of
the disease and its control from its first diagnosis as
a clinical disease to the dismantling of the addi-
tional controls put in place to control it and to pro-
vide reassurance to consumers.
We do not know what the future will bring, and it is
difficult to define success, given that 177 people died
from vCJD in the UK, but it is fair to say that the dis-
ease has been controlled. Given that the incubation
period (time from infection to clinical signs) for BSE
is estimated to be 5 years and that the causal agent has
not been identified, it is reassuring that the control
procedures put in place have controlled this new
disease within five incubation periods.
2
Cysticercosis
Taenia solium - C. cellulosae
- human pork tape-
worms. The adult tapeworm is 3-5 cm long. They can
survive in humans for many years. Eggs are passed
out in the faeces, and after ingestion by a susceptible
pig, the ova hatch in the intestine and the resultant
oncospheres travel via the blood to muscles but can
also go to the lungs and liver, kidney and brain.
Humans become infected by ingesting raw or inade-
quately cooked pork containing viable cysticerci. The
human final host may also act as an intermediate host
and become infected with cysticerci, most likely from
the accidental ingestion of
T. solium
eggs via unwashed
hands or contaminated food. It is most prevalent
