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Australian Ruminant Feed Ban
CONTENTS
TSE Freedom Assurance Program
What is a TSE?
The History of Australia's TSE Measures
National TSE Surveillance Program
Australian Ruminant Feed Ban
Imported Animal Quarantine and Surveillance
Research and Development
Training
Emergency Preparedness
Links
Australia has an inclusive ban on the feeding to all ruminants of all meals, including meat and bone meal (MBM) derived from all vertebrates, including fish and birds. The current ban was established by statutory laws in each of Australia's jurisdictions and enforced by official inspections and audits, which also take into account quality assurance schemes that operate within Australia's ruminant livestock industries. This acts as a fail-safe control measure to rule out the possibility that feeding will amplify the BSE agent in the unlikely event that it is introduced to Australia.
A voluntary ban on the feeding of ruminant material to ruminants was adopted in Australia in 1996 to minimise the risk of recycling the BSE agent if it were introduced. This was a preliminary step towards laws to prohibit the feeding of ruminant material to ruminants. These laws were enacted in all of Australia's jurisdictions in 1997. In 1999, the prohibition was extended to the feeding of specified mammalian materials to ruminants. In March 2001, agricultural ministers agreed to introduce uniform legislation in all States and Territories to extend this prohibition to include a ban on the feeding of meals containing 'only porcine, equine, or macropod materials; blood and blood products; inspected meat products (that have been cooked and offered for human food and further heat processed into animal food); poultry (offal and feather) meals; and fish meals'. Following on from this decision all States and Territories have adopted in their respective legislation the term 'restricted animal material' (RAM) to describe animal meals that cannot be fed to ruminants, being any meal derived from animal origin including fish and birds.
Definition of RAM
Restricted Animal Material (RAM) is any material taken from a vertebrate animal other than tallow, gelatin, milk products or oils extracted from poultry and fish. It includes rendered products such as blood meal, meat meal, meat and bone meal, fish meal, poultry meal, feather meal, and compounded feeds made from these products.
To ensure Australia has effective feed ban control measures, it was agreed at the March 2001 meeting of the Agricultural and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand that audits be undertaken by all jurisdictions to verify compliance with feed ban legislation by all parties from manufacture to end-use. Prior to these jurisdictional audits, four national audits of the ruminant feed ban were conducted in Australia (see Audit Results section).
A uniform national approach to compliance inspection and auditing provides the greatest assurance of compliance with regulatory controls and that national and international requirements will be met.
Australia's enforceable bans on the feeding of restricted animal material (RAM) to ruminant animals are part of a comprehensive national TSE Freedom Assurance Program. The ruminant feed ban is supported by the following mechanisms:
* Quarantine measures to prevent entry into the country of the BSE agent. Since 1966, the importation of MBM into Australia has been prohibited from all countries other than New Zealand, which is also free of animal TSEs.
* A comprehensive, risk-based compliance inspection program undertaken by State and Territory authorities that targets all sectors in the livestock feed chain from renderers, to stockfeed manufacturers, stockfeed resellers and end-users. The ongoing program is modified in light of non-conformities identified and corrective actions that have been implemented.
* A range of quality management and assurance measures implemented by the ruminant livestock and stockfeed manufacturing industries in Australia, which complement the official regulatory and compliance inspection program.
* Education and training programs to create awareness and develop the necessary competencies and capacity regarding the legislative rules on animal feed and TSEs. Training and education of relevant groups such as farmers, renderers, stockfeed manufacturers and resellers and statutory bodies is ongoing.
These programs constitute Australia's effective ruminant feed ban, as part of its control measures to prevent the entry and establishment of the BSE agent in this country.
A series of pamphlets advising the public of their commitment to the Ruminant Feed Ban have been produced. The pamphlets target the main three groups involved in the use of restricted animal material:
* Stockfeed manufacturers;
* Retailers of manufactured stockfeed and restricted animal material; and
* End users of manufactured stockfeed and restricted animal material.
Source:
http://www.animalhealthaustralia.com.au/aahc/programs/adsp/tsefap/feedban.cfm
Australian Ruminant Feed Ban
CONTENTS
TSE Freedom Assurance Program
What is a TSE?
The History of Australia's TSE Measures
National TSE Surveillance Program
Australian Ruminant Feed Ban
Imported Animal Quarantine and Surveillance
Research and Development
Training
Emergency Preparedness
Links
Australia has an inclusive ban on the feeding to all ruminants of all meals, including meat and bone meal (MBM) derived from all vertebrates, including fish and birds. The current ban was established by statutory laws in each of Australia's jurisdictions and enforced by official inspections and audits, which also take into account quality assurance schemes that operate within Australia's ruminant livestock industries. This acts as a fail-safe control measure to rule out the possibility that feeding will amplify the BSE agent in the unlikely event that it is introduced to Australia.
A voluntary ban on the feeding of ruminant material to ruminants was adopted in Australia in 1996 to minimise the risk of recycling the BSE agent if it were introduced. This was a preliminary step towards laws to prohibit the feeding of ruminant material to ruminants. These laws were enacted in all of Australia's jurisdictions in 1997. In 1999, the prohibition was extended to the feeding of specified mammalian materials to ruminants. In March 2001, agricultural ministers agreed to introduce uniform legislation in all States and Territories to extend this prohibition to include a ban on the feeding of meals containing 'only porcine, equine, or macropod materials; blood and blood products; inspected meat products (that have been cooked and offered for human food and further heat processed into animal food); poultry (offal and feather) meals; and fish meals'. Following on from this decision all States and Territories have adopted in their respective legislation the term 'restricted animal material' (RAM) to describe animal meals that cannot be fed to ruminants, being any meal derived from animal origin including fish and birds.
Definition of RAM
Restricted Animal Material (RAM) is any material taken from a vertebrate animal other than tallow, gelatin, milk products or oils extracted from poultry and fish. It includes rendered products such as blood meal, meat meal, meat and bone meal, fish meal, poultry meal, feather meal, and compounded feeds made from these products.
To ensure Australia has effective feed ban control measures, it was agreed at the March 2001 meeting of the Agricultural and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand that audits be undertaken by all jurisdictions to verify compliance with feed ban legislation by all parties from manufacture to end-use. Prior to these jurisdictional audits, four national audits of the ruminant feed ban were conducted in Australia (see Audit Results section).
A uniform national approach to compliance inspection and auditing provides the greatest assurance of compliance with regulatory controls and that national and international requirements will be met.
Australia's enforceable bans on the feeding of restricted animal material (RAM) to ruminant animals are part of a comprehensive national TSE Freedom Assurance Program. The ruminant feed ban is supported by the following mechanisms:
* Quarantine measures to prevent entry into the country of the BSE agent. Since 1966, the importation of MBM into Australia has been prohibited from all countries other than New Zealand, which is also free of animal TSEs.
* A comprehensive, risk-based compliance inspection program undertaken by State and Territory authorities that targets all sectors in the livestock feed chain from renderers, to stockfeed manufacturers, stockfeed resellers and end-users. The ongoing program is modified in light of non-conformities identified and corrective actions that have been implemented.
* A range of quality management and assurance measures implemented by the ruminant livestock and stockfeed manufacturing industries in Australia, which complement the official regulatory and compliance inspection program.
* Education and training programs to create awareness and develop the necessary competencies and capacity regarding the legislative rules on animal feed and TSEs. Training and education of relevant groups such as farmers, renderers, stockfeed manufacturers and resellers and statutory bodies is ongoing.
These programs constitute Australia's effective ruminant feed ban, as part of its control measures to prevent the entry and establishment of the BSE agent in this country.
A series of pamphlets advising the public of their commitment to the Ruminant Feed Ban have been produced. The pamphlets target the main three groups involved in the use of restricted animal material:
* Stockfeed manufacturers;
* Retailers of manufactured stockfeed and restricted animal material; and
* End users of manufactured stockfeed and restricted animal material.
Source:
http://www.animalhealthaustralia.com.au/aahc/programs/adsp/tsefap/feedban.cfm