CLYDE, Alta. – Meat packers will probably change the way they handle meat byproducts because of the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta.
New government policies for handling specified risk materials from older cattle are likely, said a Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesperson.
“A decision to exclude some of the specified risk material from entering the human or feed chain or both is likely,” said CFIA veterinarian Claude Lavigne.
Risk material includes spinal cords, brains, skulls, tonsils, portions of small intestine and dorsal ganglia along the vertebral column tissues and perhaps meat mechanically removed from bones. Organ meats are not likely to be excluded for human consumption.
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It is believed the prion responsible for BSE resides in nerve and brain tissue. In Europe, these products are rendered and incinerated to prevent people from eating them in processed or ground beef. They are also banned from entering animal feed supplements.
Removing those parts could be a challenge for Canadian beef packers, who will have to find new techniques instead of splitting the spines to divide carcasses in half.
An international panel examining the Canadian BSE case is likely to recommend new procedures.
CFIA vet George Luterbach said it might be extreme to ban all rendered animal protein from all livestock feed rations. However, changes may be forced by the need to avoid any non-compliance or cross-contamination among farm animals.
Brian Nilsson, co-owner of XL Foods in Moose Jaw and Calgary, told a producer meeting in Clyde, Alta., the international ban on beef has also created a backlog of products that Canadians do not normally eat.
Losing markets for lower-priced cuts and offal products like tongue, tripe, liver and heart reduced the profit per animal by $150.
Offal in storage will be rendered and incinerated. Thin meats such as muscle from around the diaphragm will go to grinding.
