BSE: Public health issues
There continues to be considerable public concern about BSE, and the safety of British meat. The Government set up an independent committee of leading experts to make sure it receives the best possible scientific advice. This committee (called the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, or SEAC for short) and its predecessors have been looking into aspects of the problem for over ten years.
The Food Standards Agency was set up to protect public health and consumers interests in relation to food. It is one of the Agency's strategic aims to ensure that controls in relation to TSEs are based on the latest scientific knowledge and that they minimise the potential risk from eating beef and sheep meat.
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Since 1988 all UK cattle suspected of suffering from BSE have been slaughtered and sent for diagnosis. All BSE suspects are then destroyed by incineration. Further information on notification and disposal is available, including Advisory Notes for Farmers
(403 KB) which provide details of the necessary procedures to be taken
when a BSE case is suspected. -
All adult animals presented for slaughter are inspected by veterinary surgeons to make sure that no suspected cases are slaughtered for human consumption.
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Since 1989 controls have existed that ban from the human food chain tissues of cattle, sheep and goats which are most likely to harbour detectable BSE infectivity in infected animals. The rules on these tissues, known as Specified Risk Material (SRM), have been regularly reviewed and strengthened in line with developing scientific evidence.
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In 2000 harmonised SRM controls were introduced across all EU Member States and in 2001 EU wide Regulations laying down the rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain TSEs were introduced. These controls are enforced by domestic legislation.
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On 7 November 2005, a system of BSE testing was introduced for slaughtered cattle aged over 30 months (OTM) intended for human consumption. This system replace the OTM rule that had been in place since 1996, which prohibited the sale of beef for human consumption from OTM cattle. Further information on the replacement of the OTM rule can be found on the OTM review page of the website.
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The Government has taken steps to eradicate BSE from the UK by banning the use of feed containing mammalian protein which is thought to have spread the disease.
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In December 1997 bone-in beef and beef bones were excluded from the human food chain to protect public health from BSE infectivity which SEAC had linked to cattle bones. The continuing decline in the BSE epidemic allowed the ban on retail sales to be lifted towards the end of 1999, though it was retained for manufacturing uses of both bone-in-beef and beef bones.
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Farms are inspected by the State Veterinary Service and abattoirs and cutting plants are inspected by the Meat Hygiene Service to check that all controls are rigorously enforced.
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Defra spent £15.3 million in the financial year 2005/2006 on research into BSE and related diseases.
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Animal identification and tracing is also an important part of the measures against BSE.
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Rules on Beef Labelling have been in place since 1998, and since January 2002 it has been compulsory to label the origin of all beef offered for sale in the European Union.
Page last modified:
19 March, 2008