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.