Control methods for cattle feedstuffs aimed at prevention of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)

Abstract

In the course of the last decades of the twentieth century, more than 30 new diseases were determined for the first time in history. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or "mad cow disease" is one of them. The disease implies the subacute neurodegenerative transmission of spongiform encephalopathy and it was diagnosed and described for the first time in Great Britain in 1986. A theory has been established that BSE is spread through feedstuffs, more precisely, meat-bone flour which contains infective proteins of ruminants, and legislature has been passed throughout the world with the objective of preventing the entry of meat-bone flour into the food chain. The complete ban of the use of meat-bone flour for all farm animals (with the exception of fish flour for non-ruminants) and an adequate thermal treatment in the production of meat-bone flour (133ºC, 3 bar, 20 min) are the elements on which the European Union (EU) legislature is based. The regulations in our country include a ban on the use of meat-bone flour in cattle feedstuffs and a ban on imports of beef proteins. The implementation of this legislature throughout the world requires the corresponding analytical means. At the present time, there are several available possibilities: optic microscopy, PCR, immunoprobes, spectroscopic methods, and several others which are still being examined for use for this purpose. All the analytical methods are being applied with the objective of controlling the implementation of the current regulations, but also in order to discover possible cross contamination that could take place in factories of animal feedstuffs, during transportation, storage, or on farms, in particular when there are no separate lines for feedstuffs that contains meat-bone flour and others in which even its traces are banned. In order to secure the successful control and prevention of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in our country, as well as to secure the unhindered continuation of the integration processes with the European Union, it is necessary to create an adequate system for the monitoring of this disease, not only because of food safety as a precondition for the good health of people, but also for commercial reasons, as that is the only way to have an active role on the world market. .

Keywords

• analytical methods
• BSE
• food control