Vol. 403 No. 1
121 Mr. Cowen asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of TB reactors taken out of the national herd in 1989; the number of these that showed visible lesions at post-mortem slaughter; the number with visible lesions that were sent for laboratory analysis; and of those, the number shown to have positive TB infection.
I have been informed by the director of ERAD that the number of TB reactors identified and removed during 1989 totalled 43,385. At the meat inspection post-mortem examination carried out on these reactors 33 per cent were found to have gross visible lesions. It is not necessary to send these lesions for further laboratory examination.
It should be noted that the absence of TB lesions at post-mortem examination does not indicate the absence of TB in the animal in question.
