Written Answers. - Bovine Disease Controls.
Brendan Smith
Ceist:
84
Mr. B. Smith
asked the
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development
the safeguards which are in place to ensure the safety of Irish beef; the measures he proposes to take to further reassure consumers; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[27929/00]
Brendan Smith
Ceist:
85
Mr. B. Smith
asked the
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development
if the safeguards to ensure the safety of Irish beef adhere to EU scientific and international veterinary standards; the guidelines laid down by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[27930/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 84 and 85 together.
Ireland's BSE controls are among the strictest in the world having been significantly enhanced in line with scientific advances. These measures, many of which were introduced by my Department in advance of any EU requirement to do so, include: a legal obligation on veterinary surgeons, farmers and all persons in charge of bovines to notify this Department of any animal infected with BSE or suspected of being so infected; the destruction of carcasses of affected animals under official supervision thereby ensuring their exclusion from the human food chain; the depopulation of entire herds in which BSE has occurred. The carcasses in question are destroyed and farmers involved are compensated at full market value paid by the State. Progeny and birth cohorts of affected animals are also traced and destroyed; and the production, sale, possession, distribution and use of meat and bone meal, MBM, for any purpose is controlled by law and licences are required for any such activities.
In addition, the following controls apply: specified risk materials – SRM – are removed from all slaughtered and fallen animals, are rendered separately and incinerated; the remaining animal waste – animal waste free from SRM – is rendered in plants operating for 20 minutes at 133º centigrade at 3 atmospheres of pressure in compliance with EU rules. This system has been validated and audited by successive EU Commission and FVO missions; and MBM can only be fed to non-ruminant animals. In order to prevent cross contamination at feed preparation stage. Feed mills which use MBM for inclusion in non-ruminant rations may not manufacture any ruminant feeds feed mills which manufacture ruminant rations may not have on their premises any MBM whatsoever.
Last July, as an additional measure of consumer protection, I introduced an active surveillance programme to test certain categories of animals for BSE using one of the EU validated rapid tests. At the Agriculture Council last week, I strongly supported EU measures to improve rapid testing, in particular the testing from July 2001 of all cattle intended for slaughter aged over 30 months. I have already confirmed my Department's intention to proceed with this particular measure as soon as practical arrangements are in place and ahead of any EU requirement to do so.
These control measures are tightly audited by my Department, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the European Union to ensure compliance. As a direct result of these measures, the European Union's scientific steering committee's geographically based risk assessment classified Ireland as very stable in 1997 and optimally stable, the highest level of stability that is achievable, since 1998, reflecting the effectiveness of the controls Ireland has put in place. Optimally stable means that all three main stability factors – feeding, rendering and SRM removal – are in place, well controlled, implemented and audited. Very few countries have achieved this high level of stability. I should add that, under OIE international standards, Ireland continues to be a country with a low sporadic incidence of BSE.
All of the above controls, along with the status afforded to Ireland by the international bodies means that the maximum guarantees possible can be given to consumers of Irish beef. The net effect of the BSE control measures in Ireland is that cattle do not come from herds in which BSE has been confirmed; cattle have been subject to veterinary ante-mortem inspection prior to slaughter and certified as healthy and fit for slaughter for human consumption cattle have been subject to 100% veterinary post-mortem inspection after slaughter and have been certified as healthy, disease free and fit for human consumption; all SRM, including the brain, spinal cord, thymus, tonsils and ileum is removed and segregated during the preparation of the carcass; and all visible nervous and lymphatic tissues are removed during deboning and cutting.
I am satisfied that all of the measures I have outlined, along with the status afforded to Ireland by the international bodies means that the maximum guarantees possible can be given to consumers of Irish beef. The question of additional measures at EU level is under dis cussion and will be discussed at the Council of Agriculture Ministers next week.
