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NZFSA reconsiders beef imports in light of growing body of knowledge about BSE

10 April 2006

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) has released a discussion document which recommends changes to the requirements for imported beef products. These changes reflect recent findings from the growing body of science that more accurately identifies the risks and the measures required to protect consumers from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which has been linked to eating beef offals containing the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) agent.

The discussion document is NZFSA’s proposed response to last year’s Officials’ Review of New Zealand’s current BSE Country Categorisation Measure. The review team, consisting of experts from industry, and the biosecurity, public health and public policy fields, were asked to review New Zealand’s current controls around importing beef products that could contain the BSE agent. The review was in response to:

• experience gained since the height of the BSE epidemic in cattle

• advances in the scientific understanding of BSE and the associated risk of vCJD from BSE in food

• changes to the international standard (the World Organisation for Animal Health’s (OIE) Terrestrial Animal Health Code) on which the current BSE Measure is based.

Other countries are also reviewing their import requirements for the same reasons.

Strict controls have been in place for beef products around the world since 1996 when the human disease vCJD was linked to eating beef-products contaminated with offals that had come from cattle with BSE in the 1980s. However, since that time, changes to production rules (such as not feeding ruminant material to ruminants and removing the parts of the animal from the food chain that could contain the BSE agent) has dramatically reduced the incidence of BSE. These measures, along with new scientific information, have increased our understanding and virtually eliminated the risk of contracting vCJD.

NZFSA proposes to adopt the Officials’ Review’s recommendations on revising the current BSE Measure. This position is supported by current science, follows international best practice, and is consistent with recent changes made to the relevant international standard.

The discussion document and the Officials’ review are available from NZFSA’s website. Submissions on the discussion document will be accepted until 12 May.

Ends

For further comment contact Tim Knox, Director (New Zealand Standards): 04 463 2651
Cell: 021 403 990

For more information contact Philippa Ross-James, Senior Advisor (Communications):
04 463 2552. Cell: 029 200 4566

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What is the BSE Measure?

The BSE Measure is the name given to New Zealand’s Country Categorisation System which determines import requirements for beef products. This is designed to protect consumers from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which has been linked to eating beef containing the Bovine Spongiform Encepalopathy (BSE) agent.

Which parts of the animal are at risk of containing the BSE agent?

BSE infectivity is not found in muscle (that is ‘meat’), but is confined to a limited range of tissues, most of which are not usually regarded as ‘meat’. In cattle of any age, the distal ileum (in the intestines) and tonsils are considered to be risk materials, and in cattle over 30 months of age the brains, spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia, and the trigeminal ganglia (all central nervous system-type tissues), and eyes are considered risky.

What are the key differences between the proposal and the current BSE Measure?

It is proposed that New Zealand will move to a simpler, three tier country categorisation system, rather than the existing five categories. This is based on the OIE’s international standard for managing BSE, but with some differences. Countries will be ranked according to their history of BSE cases (Category 1: negligible risk; Category 2: managed risk; Category 3: unmanaged or unknown risk).

It is also proposed that gelatine derived from bone and processed foods containing tiny amounts of beef are allowed to be imported freely as the growing body of scientific information concludes that there is no, or negligible risk from these products.

The review team is confident that any differences between their recommendations and the OIE’s position are strongly supported by up-to-date scientific evidence and anticipate that these changes will be adopted internationally over the short to medium term.

What are other countries doing?

Many other countries, such as Canada and the European Union, are reviewing, or have reviewed, their import requirements for imported bovine products in light of the OIE changes. Other countries already have similar systems in place as the review team has proposed for New Zealand, or are expected to put these into place in the future.