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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 8 Dec 1998

Vol. 498 No. 1

Written Answers. - Bovine Disease Controls.

Trevor Sargent

Question:

139 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will report on the testing regime for the prevention of the spread of BSE and CJD in the human population which applies to Irish livestock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26279/98]

Trevor Sargent

Question:

141 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the practice adopted by the Swiss agricultural authorities of testing apparently healthy cows for the prion protein that causes BSE in cows and CJD in humans (details supplied); if he has considered introducing this testing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26281/98]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 141 together.

The controls listed below are aimed at removing the possibility of exposure of cattle to the BSE agent through the ingestion of contaminated feed and simultaneously provide safety assurance of the consumption of Irish beef.

A surveillance system is in place and all cattle slaughtered in Ireland are subjected to ante-mortem examination, at the licensed slaughter plant, by an authorised veterinarian.

Herds in which a BSE case is diagnosed are slaughtered in a dedicated licensed plant, the carcases of these animals are rendered in a dedicated rendering plant and the meat and bone meal and tallow produced are incinerated.

Also slaughtered at the same plant and products therefrom disposed of in the same ways are: all animals which had been previously imported from the UK; the progeny of BSE-positive animals, and birth cohorts of BSE-positive animals.

Knackeries which handle animals dying on-farm are licensed and are operated under the supervision of DAF staff. Specified Risk Materials, SRM's, defined as (a) the skull, the brain, the eyes, the tonsils and spinal cord of a bovine animal aged over 12 months, and (b) the skull, the brain, the eyes, the tonsils, the spinal cord of a caprine or ovine animal which has a permanent incisor tooth erupted through the gum, and the spleen of a caprine or ovine animal are removed from the carcases of cattle and sheep at all slaughter plants and knackeries and are rendered at a dedicated rendering plant. The offals remaining after the above are rendered at 133ºC, bar three for 20 minutes in accordance with EU rules. The sale, purchase and use of the MBM produced by the process described above is controlled by licence. Only feedmills which solely produce pig or poultry rations and farmers dedicated to pig or poultry production are granted licences to purchase and use mammalian MBM.
The Swiss authorities have been involved in a validation programme for an immunoassay test developed by a Swiss company. A similar validation programme was carried out by my authorities using a test developed by an Irish company with promising results.
The ENFER immunoassay test developed by Enfer Scientific in Ireland in common with the immunoassay test developed by Prionics in Switzerland and a number of other assays which have been developed to detect abnormal PrP are currently being considered by the EU authorities for validation as an acceptable method to detect BSE. So far, no test has been validated for detection of pre-clinical disease. When the validation process has been completed, decisions will be made as to the use to be made of the test on tissues from animals presented for slaughter.
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