May 1, 2006

 

BSE prevalence in US is very low, says USDA

 

 

The prevalence of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in the US is "extraordinarily low" and the US Department of Agriculture may be able reduce the number of cattle it tests after a peer review of a new analysis is completed, possibly in May, USDA said Friday (Apr 28).

 

USDA Secretary Mike Johanns said the analysis shows that BSE prevalence is less than one in 1 million adult cattle in the US, meaning there are likely only four to seven infected cattle in the US now.

 

After a peer review of the analysis is completed, Johanns said, USDA will "move to a level of testing that is in line with international guidelines for a country like ours that is at minimal risk for (BSE)".

 

Ron DeHaven, administrator of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said his agency is "working now to develop what we think would be an appropriate level of maintenance testing,...making sure it is scientifically and statistically valid".

 

That new, lower level of testing will be around "the 40,000-animals-per-year level," DeHaven said. USDA will continue its practice of focusing on high-risk animals, such as downer cattle that are either too sick or injured to stand.

 

USDA began its "enhanced" BSE surveillance program on June 1, 2004, as a direct response to a December 2003 discovery of the first BSE case in the US

 

Since then, the USDA has tested nearly 700,000 cattle and found two more cases of the disease, making the total number found in the US three.

 

The US lost almost all access to foreign beef markets after its first BSE case was announced two years ago. Johanns said Friday that the results of the new analysis will help the US change the minds of countries that continue to ban the import of US beef.

 

Johanns said he was "very confident this will be very positively viewed by not only Japan, but other trading partners around the world".

 

Japan, once the largest foreign market for US beef, eased back its ban in Dec 2005, but then cut off imports again in January because a shipment of US veal contained prohibited products such as vertebral column.

 

Johanns said he will likely meet with Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa in May during World Trade Organization meetings in Geneva. That meeting, Johanns said, will provide the opportunity for him to present the findings of the USDA analysis to Nakagawa.

 

"I think he'll be very, very pleased to see it," Johanns said.

 

South Korea, the second largest importer of US beef before BSE was discovered in the US, is in what USDA officials hope is the final stage of a process to resume imports. The country is expected to send a delegation of inspectors to review safety measures at US beef packers as early as next week.