April 20, 2004

FDA Set To Widen US Mad Cow Regulations

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday that its proposed regulations to prevent mad cow disease in the U.S. food and animal feed supply could be widened significantly from what was initially announced in January this year.
 
Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said the agency was "getting fairly close" to publishing the proposed rules in the Federal Register.
 
Sundlof said the FDA was considering expanding its initial announcement and broadening the materials banned from poultry and swine feed to include brains, spinal cord and other central nervous system tissue from cattle aged 30 months and older.
 
The FDA said on January 26 it would ban animal blood and poultry litter in cattle feed. They would also ensure that certain cattle parts are not used in making dietary supplements and cosmetics.
 
The spread of mad cow disease is believed to have been caused by cattle eating "specified risk material" (SRM) such as infected cattle brains and spinal cord. Such materials were banned from ruminant feed in 1997.
 
"Should we be banning SRMs? These are the questions that are still on the table," Sundlof said.
 
Sundlof indicated that the FDA would probably support such measures if the government finds more cases of mad cow disease in the United States.
 
FDA officials provided few details on how the proposed rules would finally be written.
 
According to Sundlof, much time was spent on making sure its rules complied with new U.S. Agriculture Department regulations, which were implemented shortly after the discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in December. The USDA rules, which are very similar to the FDA's, cover the meat industry.
 
"It constrains us a bit that USDA published its rules first," he said. "My sense is that we are coming to a point ... where we have sorted out all the issues."
 
The decision on how producers would dispose of poultry litter after the agency prohibits its use in cattle feed also depended on them, Sundlof added.