The United States Department of Agriculture confirmed June 29 its first homegrown case of BSE came from a commercial cattle herd in Texas.
The 12-year-old cow was a cream coloured Brahma cross born and raised on the ranch that has been quarantined as the USDA begins its scrutiny of herd mates and feed sources.
A DNA analysis confirmed the herd identity.
“We have identified two animals that are definitely related to the animal that was incinerated and determined to have BSE. Those animals would have been either an offspring or a dam to this animal,” said John Clifford, chief veterinary officer, of the USDA’s animal and plant health inspection service at a June 29 news conference.
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The state’s animal health commission said the carcass was incinerated and no parts were used for food, animal feed or fertilizer products.
The first rapid tests on the cow sample indicated a positive. However, a later immunohistochemistry test ruled it negative. The U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector general’s office ordered the sample retested at the world reference laboratory in England where it was proved positive.
The USDA investigation will look at the herd’s history, feeding practices and feed mills. Results may be sketchy because of the animal’s age and the fact there was no ban on feeding ruminant material to ruminants until 1997, said Steve Sundlof with the Food and Drug Administration.
USDA has promised to upgrade its surveillance program.
The office of the inspector general, which oversees the USDA, made 19 recommendations to improve the program in a July 2004 report to a joint congressional agriculture committee.
This was the first of a three part audit looking at the procedures in accredited laboratories, slaughterhouse practices and how brain samples are collected for BSE testing. The final report is expevcted this summer.
The inspector general criticized an apparent lack of consistency in definitions of downers, confusion over testing requirements and a lack of communication among the agencies involved with food safety.
A further criticism said BSE tests should have been ordered for animals exhibiting rabies symptoms. In 2003, there were 586 negative rabies tests, but 493 samples were not forwarded for further BSE testing even though the symptoms of the two diseases are similar.
The U.S. has no mechanism in place to obtain samples from animals that die on farms, partly because of reluctance among producers to report a potential positive case.
The report also said proper methods to submit samples with full information on the animal’s origin were not done, nor were there always backup samples of brain tissue for further tests.
In Canada, the auditor general and an internal auditor within the Canadian Food Inspection Agency oversee the BSE testing program. Laboratories are accredited through the ISO quality program and monitored by the Standards Council of Canada.
While the USDA has been embarrassed by the findings of the inspector general, Canada has not had a similar experience where testing or investigations were criticized or further tests were ordered.
