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From: TSS ()
FSA (TSE) NEWS No.48 June 2005 Agency review to discuss contingency options on BSE and sheep The Agency is inviting consumers and stakeholders to contribute to a review of the approach it would take, should BSE ever be found in the UK sheep flock. In December 2004 the Agency’s Board began a review of the options available to it should BSE be discovered in UK sheep, with the aim of ensuring that measures in place to control BSE are based on the latest science and are proportionate. Consumers and stakeholders will be able to contribute through written submissions and, as FSA News went to press, a workshop was due to take place in London on 16 June 2005. Further information For additional details contact Carlos Orri, tel: 020 7276 8329; email: carlos.orri@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk snip... The Agency held an open Board meeting on Thursday 12 May in London. The meeting was attended by 95 people and a further 907 watched it by live webcast. Board meeting webcasts can also now be viewed as video on demand on the Agency website. The meeting was chaired by the Agency’s Acting Chair Julia Unwin. During the meeting, the Board discussed two papers: Implementation of the Agency’s Foodborne Disease Strategy: update; and Review of the Over Thirty Months (OTM) Rule: progress report on transition towards a robust BSE testing regime. snip... Board update May 2005 Agency open Board meeting July 2005 Progress on transition towards a robust BSE testing regime This paper asked the Board to note and agree the actions being taken to prepare for the replacement of the Over Thirty Months (OTM) Rule with a robust system for BSE testing. The OTM rule was introduced in 1996 as one of three main BSE controls aimed at protecting public health. With limited exceptions, the rule prohibits the sale for human consumption of meat from cattle aged over thirty months at the time of slaughter. In other EU Member States, meat from OTM cattle is allowed into the food supply subject to testing negative for BSE. The principal BSE food safety measure – the removal of specified risk material (SRM) – is estimated to remove over 99% of infectivity in cattle. The other main control is the ban on mammalian meat and bone meal being used in farm animal feed (known as the feed ban). Following a review of the OTM rule, the Agency advised Ministers in July 2004 that replacing the OTM rule by BSE testing for cattle born on or after 1 August 1996 is justified on grounds of the foodborne risk to consumers and proportionality, subject to the putting in place of a robust testing system. In an announcement on 1 December 2004, the Government made clear that the switch from the OTM rule to testing should happen only when the FSA has advised Ministers that the testing system is robust. To assist with that process, the Board appointed a group of outside experts, in order to ensure that the advice it receives on the robustness of testing is independent. At the December 2004 meeting, the Board considered and approved the independent group’s initial report containing its recommendations for a testing regimen and agreed that the next stage should be a full trial of the system to assess whether or not it will be robust. The independent group advising the FSA on the robustness of the testing system has reviewed the outcome of trials of the system. The group concluded that while the GB trials had provided an excellent opportunity critically to assess the proposed testing system, a further round of trials should take place. In addition, the EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) will be carrying out a mission to Great Britain, from 6-15 June 2005, to evaluate the implementation of the EC BSE rules. This will concentrate on BSE testing and surveillance, and the identification and traceability of bovine animals, as well as removal and disposal of SRM and the feed ban. The mission will include an examination of the proposed system for OTM testing. The Board: commented on the results emerging from the trials of the testing system; noted that the process of preparing for transition to BSE testing was moving in the right direction; noted that the Board would not be invited to take a decision on the robustness of the testing system until reports from both the independent group and the FVO were available; recommended that rule change should be implemented on the same date throughout the UK; noted the remedial action underway by the Meat Hygiene Service to minimise the risk of further OTM breaches; noted that the Board wished to move as quickly as possible to a situation where implementation of the testing system could be recommended; noted that the MHS will at some stage discuss the suitability of all aspects of its structure for overseeing the testing system, and that the FSA Board will wish to discuss this issue once it has been considered by the MHS. In addition, Agency Acting Chair Julia Unwin, Agency Chief Executive Jon Bell and Meat Hygiene Service Board Chair Chrissie Dunn gave reports updating the FSA Board on developments since the previous open meeting. 7 snip... The Food Standards Agency’s next open Board meeting will be held on 14 July 2005 at the Hilton Cardiff, Kingsway, Cardiff CF10 3HH. Further information Anyone wishing to attend the Board meeting should complete an online registration form at: http://www.glasgows.co.uk/fsa/ registrationform.htm For other queries about the open Board meeting, please email: fsaboardmeetings@glasgows.co.uk tel: 01772 767730 or fax: 01772 767555. http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/fsanews48.pdf TSS
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