BSE Infection Risk of Cattle via Sewage Sludge Wastewater JP

[flounder]

Subject: Evaluation of BSE Infection Risk of Cattle via Sewage Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Slaughterhouses Japan
Date: March 7, 2006 at 8:44 am PST


Evaluation of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Infection Risk of Cattle via Sewage Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Slaughterhouses in Japan


Takehisa YAMAMOTO1), Sota KOBAYASHI1), Akiko NISHIGUCHI1), Takashi NONAKA1) and Toshiyuki TSUTSUI1)

1) Applied Epidemiology Section, National Institute of Animal Health

(Received 21-Jul-2005)
(Accepted 24-Oct-2005)


ABSTRACT. Scattered SRM residues from BSE-infected cattle are possible to contaminate sewage during the slaughtering process in slaughterhouses. A proportion of the sludge discharged from wastewater treatment facilities at slaughterhouses has historically been processed into fertilizer. We therefore investigated the associated risk of BSE infection to cattle via sludge-derived fertilizer. Each stage of the process associated with BSE exposure was qualitatively evaluated and quantitative evaluations were subsequently performed using infectious dose as a unit of concern. Results of these qualitative evaluations indicated that installation of filter(s) at the drains to the wastewater treatment facilities has been undertaken by many slaughterhouses and has decreased the likelihood of SRM contamination of sewage. The level of sludge-derived fertilizer ingested by cattle was considered to be very low since the fertilizer is mixed with the ground soil, and the amount of soil ingested by cattle is likely to be small. Results from the quantitative analysis indicated the total infectious dose ingested by cattle in Japan from an infected cow has been estimated to be 5.5 × 10-3 ID50. Preventing scattering of SRM during the slaughtering process, installing filters to the drains with the removal of residues from the drain water and preventing the application of sludge-derived fertilizer to pasturelands would be effective to reduce the risk. Although the limited extent of available information, this study should provide useful indication for the development of an inclusive risk assessment for slaughterhouse sludge in the future.


KEY WORDS: abattoir, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), fertilizer, risk assessment, sewage sludge


SNIP...


IN the event that a large SRM tissue sample with a high infectivity was not diluted during the process and then subsequently ingested by cattle, it is possible that these cattle would become infected with BSE. ...



see full text ;


http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jvms/68/2/137/_pdf


TSS

 

[bse-tester]

The risks involved with the spreading of cattle and hog manure all over some of the pastures - which incidently, has been a long time-honored pratice in a lot of cattle producing countries, is something that has been on my mind for a long long time. In the UK there used to be teams of men who were known as "Muck Spreaders" and they would go from farm to farm and do the work. One has to wonder if that is or was something of a risky practice??

 

[Econ101]

The risks involved with the spreading of cattle and hog manure all over some of the pastures - which incidently, has been a long time-honored pratice in a lot of cattle producing countries, is something that has been on my mind for a long long time. In the UK there used to be teams of men who were known as "Muck Spreaders" and they would go from farm to farm and do the work. One has to wonder if that is or was something of a risky practice??

Two things have to happen for the risk to be there for the cattle grazing the land after application. The first is an infected manure. There is no traceback for MBM in poultry feed.

The second has to be that the infected manure has to be taken up by the animals. It must degrade in the environment after time. I doubt there have been any studies on this second event.

It seems to me all of this could be more economically taken care of by making MBM in all feed illegal. Sure this will take some of the price advantage from the big packers, but so what? It might just be the most cheapest way to handle the situation.

 

[bse-tester]

A very good point of view Econ.