US to delay OTM rule-- Need Answers on 50 Month

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Oldtimer

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They are finally asking the same question I have been asking- How many violations of the feed ban do we have and how many mills are violators? How long has this practice been taking place? --how many of these symptom free cattle have entered Canada's food chain?-- and how many of the UTM cattle Canada sent south to the US for feeding and slaughter, were already infected and manifesting the disease, altho not showing any symptoms at the time of slaughter?......

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CBW Exclusive: U.S. to delay O.T.M. cattle from Canada



MEATPOULTRY.com

September 5, 2006

by MEAT&POULTRY Staff



by Steve Kay (Cattle Buyers Weekly)



The U.S. Department of Agriculture likely will delay a review of its proposed rule to allow older Canadian cattle into the U.S. until Canada concludes a feed enforcement investigation in connection with Canada's seventh bovine spongiform encephalopathy case. Investigation of the case plausibly explains how a dairy cow born nearly five years after Canada's 1997 feed ban contracted the disease. It probably contracted it through a single batch of contaminated cattle feed delivered to the Alberta farm the cow was on.



More troubling is that the feed mill that sent the batch failed to document a flush of equipment (it mixes uses ruminant-derived material into non-ruminant feed). The mill may have failed to flush equipment between processing runs, said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The issue now is whether this was a one-time accidental occurrence or a more systematic failure by the mill or other mills throughout Canada, observers said. The fact is, the feed mill was in non-compliance with Canada's feed ban, and this appeared to cause a cow to contract B.S.E. The U.S.D.A. will want additional assurances from Canada that such non-compliance will not reoccur before it begins to review its rule, observers said.



Another issue is that the cow died of causes not related to B.S.E. (it died of mastitis) and showed no clinical signs of having the disease. The cow was tested for B.S.E. only because she was a downer animal. This suggests the cow might not have been tested for B.S.E. had she recovered from mastitis and then sent to slaughter as a cull cow. The 50-month-old cow would likely have lived for an additional 4 to 6 months before the onset of B.S.E.-related clinical signs, the C.F.I.A. said.



The case's detection at an early stage demonstrates the highly sensitive and robust nature of Canada's B.S.E. surveillance program, the C.F.I.A. said. Observers, though, said the case raises concerns that other animals with B.S.E. but no signs of it might have gone undetected if they went to slaughter in apparent good health. However, the removal of specified risk materials would safeguard against any infected material entering the feed and food supply, officials said.





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