Tam, The OIE Guidelines Change with the wind, Here's the last one I know about:
OIE CHANGES TO BSE GUIDANCE
CATTLE HEALTH - BSE - TALKING POINTS
Monday, April 10, 2006
Summary
At the 73rd annual Office of International Epizootics (OIE) general session meeting in May 2005, member countries reviewed and approved changes to the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) chapter of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code that may affect how countries with BSE trade. The meeting drew 700 participants representing the 167 OIE member countries, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations.
Background
The Office of International Epizootics or OIE was created in January 1924 when 28 countries agreed to form an inter-governmental organization to provide guidance on animal health issues. There are now 167 member countries of the Paris-based organization.
OIE publishes health standards for international trade in animals and animal products in the form of two animal health codes, one for terrestrial animals and one for aquatic animals. The standards within both animal health codes are developed by OIE’s Specialist Commissions and then adopted by OIE member countries during the organization’s General Session each May.
The BSE chapter recommendations are intended to manage the human and animal health risks associated with the presence of BSE. During the May 22-27, 2005 annual OIE meeting, special attention was given to updating this chapter in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code and the changes may affect how trade proceeds between countries with BSE.
Simplifying Country BSE Risk Categories
Previously the BSE-related recommendations, found in Chapter 2.3.13 of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code (available on OIE’s Web site, www.oie.int), recognized five categories of BSE risk:
1) BSE-free
2) BSE provisionally free
3) minimal risk
4) moderate risk
5) high risk.
At the May meeting the Commission recommended, and member countries approved, a three-category system that simplifies the risk classification process. Now, the categories are:
1) negligible risk
2) controlled risk
3) undetermined risk.
Negligible Risk: The “Negligible BSE Risk” distinction will apply to commodities from countries or zones that pose a negligible risk of transmitting the BSE agent as demonstrated by a risk assessment, the appropriate level of BSE surveillance and either: no cases, or only imported cases or cases no more recent than 7 years, of BSE; an existing education and reporting program; and a feed ban has been in place for at least eight years if an indigenous case or other risk factors exist.
Controlled Risk: The “Controlled BSE Risk” category describes commodities from a country or zones that pose a negligible risk of transmitting the BSE agent due to commodity-specific risk mitigation measures. The conditions for this category are similar except that controlled risk countries with indigenous BSE cases must demonstrate an education and reporting program, an effective feed ban and identify, track and destroy certain progeny and herd mates of the BSE-infected animal.
Undetermined Risk: The cattle population of a country or zone poses an “Undetermined BSE Risk” if it cannot be demonstrated that it meets the requirements of another category.
Based on these changes, Canada and the United States most fall in the “Controlled BSE Risk” category. The OIE code recommends imports from Controlled BSE Risk countries resume under the condition that: it meets the requirements for controlled risk, cattle selected for export are identified by a permanent identification system and the cattle selected for export are born after a feed ban was implemented (if the country has indigenous BSE cases).
In regards to products from controlled risk countries, OIE recommends the importing countries require: anti- and post-mortem inspections, the meat come from cattle that were not subject to air-injection stunning and that fresh meat and meat products not contain prohibited tissues or mechanically separated meat from the skull and vertebral column from cattle older than 30 months.
Low BSE-risk Products List Expanded
The BSE chapter starts with a list of commodities that do not require BSE-specific measures regardless of an exporting country’s BSE status. Before the May meeting, this list included: milk and milk products, bovine semen, hides and skins (excluding those from the head), protein-free tallow, de-boned skeletal muscle meat from cattle younger than 30 months and blood and blood by-products.
Importantly this list of low-risk products, which may be traded without BSE-related regulations, now includes boneless beef from cattle under 30 months of age. In addition, all hides and skins and de-boned skeletal muscle meat from all cattle now fall into the low-risk product category. Specifically, the low-risk nature of blood and blood products was reaffirmed at the meeting, where it was concluded, based on science, that blood and blood products do not represent a risk of spreading BSE.
Further Guidance for BSE Testing
Another important change to the code involves BSE surveillance. OIE has always made recommendations for BSE surveillance based on a country’s risk, the intended purpose for surveillance and the size of its cattle population. Changes from the May OIE meeting provide more detail for the reduced testing category of maintenance-level surveillance. But the OIE code continues to encourage active surveillance, and now provides a statistical sampling protocol for estimating prevalence.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to test a significant number of the cattle at highest risk for BSE as part of the government’s expanded surveillance program initiated on June 1, 2004. As of mid-summer 2005, the United States has tested more than 400,000 targeted, higher-risk cattle. The OIE code changes approved in May do not change the fact that the United States continues to exceed OIE standards for BSE surveillance.
OIE Code Continues to Support Trade
According to OIE, its animal health codes were created to provide guidance for the safe international trade of animals and animal products, not to be used as a reason for blocking trade between countries. The changes suggested and approved at the annual general session reflect current science and streamline the code, potentially making it easier for countries with BSE to resume trade.
Under the revised code, the United States should be considered controlled-risk by importing countries and therefore, trade should resume smoothly under the recommendations set forth by the OIE.
Key Points
· At the 73rd annual OIE general session meeting in May, member countries reviewed and approved changes to the BSE chapter of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code that may affect how countries with BSE trade.
· The code changes approved reduce the number of risk categories to three in favor of the previous five, expand the list of low-risk products not requiring BSE-specific trade regulations and provide additional guidance for determining prevalence through BSE surveillance.
· Given the revised code, the United States would be considered a “Controlled BSE Risk” country and trade with international customers should resume based on the new OIE recommendations.