Office of Communications
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2003
Media Contact: Melanie Wilt, ODA Communications, 614-752-9817 or 614-752-9811
Statement from Ohio Agriculture Director
Fred Dailey on Canada’s Confirmation of BSE
Canadian government officials and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary
Ann M. Veneman announced today that an eight-year old cow in a remote area of
Alberta has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly
known as “Mad Cow Disease.” Hence, the USDA has placed Canada under BSE
restriction guidelines and will not accept any ruminants or ruminant products
from Canada into the United States. Ruminants are four-stomached animals, such
as cows.
Secretary Veneman has said that risk to human health and the possibility of
transmission to animals in the United States is very low, as meat from the cow
did not enter the food supply. BSE has never been detected in the United States.
The USDA and FDA are working together to support the Canadian investigation and
to gather additional information about this case.
The U.S. government, with the full backing of beef producers and meat industry,
has put up regulatory “firewalls” to keep BSE out of the United States. The
federal government also has an action plan in place to immediately contain any
infected animal. In the unlikely event that an animal is found, the animal and
any chance it has to pass on the disease is eliminated.
Ohio has been part of a federal-state partnership over more than a decade to
implement a comprehensive set of safeguards to prevent BSE from entering the
United States. For example:
ODA’s Animal Disease Diagnostics Laboratory participates by submitting animal tissue samples to the federal lab in Ames, Iowa. The department sent 451 brain tissue samples in federal fiscal year 2002. So far in federal fiscal year 2003, Ohio has sent 330 samples. The samples are collected by both state and federal inspectors.
ODA’s Division of Meat Inspection continues to conduct pre-slaughter inspection of every animal that is processed in nearly 100 state inspected slaughter facilities.
ODA’s Plant Industry Division inspects feed manufacturers for proper labeling to keep mammalian tissue out of cattle feed according to federal law. The division has completed 147 of these inspections so far in federal fiscal year 2003. The department completed 196 inspections in FFY 2002. The inspections are done under contract with the FDA. The department conducts additional label inspections under state feed labeling laws.
The department also does similar inspections of renderers four times per year.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture will continue to work with industry and the federal government to ensure that our food supply, including beef, is safe.