Statement of The Honorable Elsa Murano Under Secretary for Food Safety U.S. Department of Agriculture Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations February 24, 2004
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to join you today. I am Dr. Elsa Murano, Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As you know, the past several weeks have been very busy for all of us on this panel, for our USDA colleagues, for Health and Human Services, and for many other members of the Administration. I am pleased to be here today to discuss the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) involvement in the recent bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) situation in Washington State. As the public health regulatory agency responsible for ensuring that meat, poultry and egg products are safe, wholesome and accurately labeled, FSIS quickly reacted to the news of a single positive case of BSE on December 23, 2003. Throughout the weeks that followed, FSIS worked with our Federal, State, and local partners to ensure the safety of our nation’s food supply and protect public health.
Recall
Shortly after results were received indicating a presumptive positive test for BSE, the establishment initiated a recall. We are very confident that the meat that entered the food supply posed no risk to public health. However, in an abundance of caution, we traced the meat from the animal and a recall of that product was issued. FSIS' designation of this recall as Class II was due to the extremely low likelihood that the beef being recalled contained the infectious agent that causes BSE. According to scientific evidence, the tissues of highest infectivity are the brain, spinal cord, and distal ileum, which were removed from the carcass at slaughter. Therefore, the cuts of meat produced would not be expected to be infected, nor have an adverse public health impact. After the recall was initiated, FSIS field personnel worked tirelessly to trace the recalled products throughout the distribution chain. Investigators determined that 578 facilities, including restaurants and retail stores, received products related to the recall. By January 5, 2004, all of these firms had been contacted by FSIS. All primary, secondary, and tertiary customers confirmed that they made their customers aware of the recall and secured whatever product they had on hand upon notification of the recall.
Secretary Veneman has emphasized from the beginning of this situation how vitally important it is to share new information with the public and all of our stakeholders as soon as possible. As we have carried out the follow-up work to the December 23 recall, FSIS has continued to provide the public with updates on the status of the recall.
BSE Safeguards
While keeping the public apprised of the ongoing work surrounding the positive BSE finding, USDA has also taken steps to enhance protections to prevent BSE transmission in cattle and the food supply. Through advanced planning and coordination, USDA and our partners in food safety have had contingency plans for BSE in place for years. Since BSE was recognized in the United Kingdom over a decade ago, the United States has had an aggressive plan in place to address the disease. In 2001, Harvard University released a USDA-commissioned risk assessment on BSE that showed that it was extremely unlikely for BSE to become established in the U.S. While this risk assessment indicated that policies already in place would reduce the risk of BSE, USDA continued to work to improve our BSE safeguards.
In addition to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) BSE surveillance program, FSIS published a “current thinking” paper in January 2002, on regulatory and policy options intended to strengthen BSE prevention policies. One issue addressed in the paper was Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR). In June 2002, FSIS issued a directive to ensure plants using AMR are consistently adhering to requirements to prevent spinal cord tissue from entering the food supply, and in March 2003, FSIS began a regulatory sampling program to ensure beef products derived from AMR systems are accurately labeled and do not contain spinal cord tissue.
At that time, FSIS also began drafting a final rule prohibiting the use of air-injection stunning devices to immobilize cattle at slaughter. This action was designed to address the risk posed by devices that may inadvertently force brain tissue into the circulatory system of stunned cattle.
New BSE-Related Policies
Our advanced work and planning allowed us to move quickly and effectively to implement necessary policies when BSE was found in the United States. On December 30, 2003, Secretary Veneman announced several new measures designed to further protect public health in relation to BSE.
Ban on Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle
As of December 30, 2003, USDA banned all non-ambulatory disabled cattle from the human food chain. Non-ambulatory disabled cattle are defined as cattle that cannot rise from a recumbent position or that cannot walk, including, but not limited to, those with broken legs, severed tendons or ligaments, nerve paralysis, fractured vertebral column, or metabolic conditions. This definition includes cattle that are non-ambulatory due to an acute injury in route to the slaughter facility, such as a broken leg, as well as livestock that are non-ambulatory due to an underlying pathological condition.
The European experience with BSE has taught us that certain high-risk cattle, such as those that are non-ambulatory, disabled, or exhibiting neurological disorders have a higher probability of being infected with the BSE agent compared with other cattle. The ban on the slaughter of these animals will add an extra measure of assurance that the infectious materials from a high-risk category of cattle will not enter the food supply.
FSIS issued a directive on January 9, 2004, to provide inspection personnel with details on how to implement and enforce the ban. Previously, FSIS veterinarians made an ante- and post-mortem disposition of each downed animal before deeming them safe to enter the food supply. Under the ban, once cattle arrive at a federally inspected facility, USDA personnel continue to make a determination about whether the cattle are non-ambulatory disabled. If so, the FSIS veterinarian automatically condemns the cattle and ensures that they are humanely handled, euthanized by the establishment, and sent to an inedible rendering plant, an incineration facility, or an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved landfill. As was the case before the ban, FSIS’ veterinarians continue to immediately condemn all cattle that show signs of an impaired central nervous system, even if the animal appears ambulatory. Also, as was our practice before the ban, animals or animal parts are condemned as unfit for human consumption if high drug residue levels are detected, or if the animal shows signs of bruising or disease during the ante- or post-mortem inspection.
Product Holding
On January 12, 2004, USDA published four new BSE-related policies in the Federal Register. Included in these measures is a notice to FSIS inspectors announcing a new “test and hold” policy for BSE. Effective January 12, meat from cattle that have been tested for BSE in surveillance testing will be held at the establishment until the test has been confirmed negative.
Following the case of BSE in the state of Washington, FSIS concluded that when BSE test samples are collected, FSIS inspection program personnel will not apply the mark of inspection until a negative result is received by FSIS and the establishment. This new policy will ensure that products from carcasses tested for BSE will not reach commerce until negative results are received.
Specified Risk Material
Additionally, on January 12, 2004, FSIS issued an interim final rule declaring that skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, portions of the vertebral column, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of cattle 30 months of age or older and the distal ileum of the small intestine of all cattle, are specified risk materials (SRM), thus prohibiting their use in the human food supply. Prior to the publishing of the new regulations, the brain of cattle of any age was allowed for use as human food, but the product had to be labeled as such. Tonsils from all cattle were not allowed in meat food products, but could be used in edible rendering (e.g., beef stock). Now, tonsils from cattle are considered inedible and therefore do not enter the food supply. To ensure that the distal ileum is completely removed from the carcass, FSIS is requiring that establishments remove the entire small intestine and that it be disposed of as inedible.
FSIS is requiring that federally-inspected establishments that slaughter cattle and federally-inspected establishments that process the carcasses or parts of cattle develop, implement and maintain written procedures for the removal, segregation and disposition of SRMs. Establishments must incorporate these procedures into their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans or in their Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOP) or other prerequisite program. In addition to these federally inspected establishments, State inspected operations are following suit.
The SRM ban should prevent human exposure to materials that scientific studies have demonstrated contain the BSE agent in cattle infected with the disease. It is also important to note that infectivity has not been demonstrated in the muscle tissue of cattle infected with BSE at any stage of the disease. The SRM ban is consistent with the actions taken by Canada after its discovery of BSE in May 2003, which were deemed to be appropriate by an independent review panel. FSIS had been developing regulations that followed the Canadian response before the Washington State case. As a result, much of the regulatory analysis was already completed.
To facilitate the enforcement of this interim final rule, FSIS has developed procedures for verifying the approximate age of cattle that are slaughtered in official establishments. On January 12, 2004, FSIS published a Notice providing FSIS Veterinary Medical Officers with guidance to utilize records, such as a birth certificate, verification letter, or some other form of identification that is presented with the animal when it arrives for slaughter to show the animal’s age. If the documentation is not conclusive, then the Notice provides guidance for using dental examination techniques to determine whether cattle are 30 months of age and older. Despite individual differences, when the age of an animal is not known, examination of the teeth serves as the best and most practical method of age determination.
Advanced Meat Recovery
To prevent human exposure to high-risk animal tissues, FSIS published an interim final rule to ensure that products produced through the use of Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) systems do not introduce central nervous system tissue into products labeled as meat. As you may know, AMR systems are designed to remove the attached skeletal muscle and edible tissues from the bones of carcasses without incorporating significant portions of bone. FSIS amended the agency’s definition of “meat” to specifically prohibit not only spinal cord tissue, but also dorsal root ganglia, trigeminal ganglia, and brain. FSIS also no longer allows the use of Mechanically Separated beef for human food.
In March 2003, FSIS implemented a regulatory testing program to ensure that product produced by AMR systems did not include spinal cord tissue. Under the interim final rule, all Federal establishments that utilize AMR systems must now have written procedures that include testing product to ensure that there is no central nervous system tissue or excess bone solids or bone marrow. Establishments must include controls in their HACCP plans, Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures, or other prerequisite programs to ensure that products do not contain prohibited materials. If FSIS sampling shows that prohibited tissues are present in AMR products, then inspection personnel will withhold marks of inspection from the establishment's AMR product and tag the AMR system itself. This means that neither the product nor the equipment can be used until satisfactory corrective action has been made. As of February 13, all tests of AMR product taken in 2004 have been negative for all prohibited tissues.
Air Injection Stunning
Last among the four new regulations issued on January 12, 2004, is a ban on air injection stunning, a regulation that, as I mentioned before, was under development by FSIS prior to the BSE case in Washington. There are two types of penetrative captive bolt stunners used to render cattle unconscious prior to slaughter—one that injects compressed air into the skull to disrupt brain tissue and to more easily immobilize cattle, and one that does not inject compressed air. Penetrative captive bolt stunners that inject compressed air can force visible pieces of brain tissue into the circulatory system of stunned cattle. This could promote the spread of the BSE agent in the carcass if the animal tests positive for BSE. Therefore, penetrative captive bolt stunners that inject compressed air are being banned for use in stunning cattle. Although no U.S. plants currently use air-injection stunning, by issuing this rule, FSIS has addressed the potential BSE risk associated with imported products by prohibiting the import of beef products from foreign establishments that use this stunning method.
USDA requires that all foreign countries that export meat and poultry to the United States must have an inspection system equivalent to the one in this country. This means that all of our trading partners must meet our domestic regulatory standards. FSIS has notified all countries that export beef to the United States of the new regulatory requirements that are now in place. Each of these countries must present USDA with a plan as to how they will meet the new U.S. standard, either by complying with it or by proposing an alternative measure that is equivalent to the U.S. requirement.
FSIS is accepting public comments on all of the new BSE related regulations until April 12, 2004. We have been encouraging interested stakeholders to submit their comments and concerns regarding the new policies to the agency to review as we finalize the interim final rules.
BSE Outreach
With the finding of BSE in Washington State and the introduction of these new policies, FSIS recognizes that there are questions from agency employees and plant owners. To address these concerns, FSIS is holding a series of teaching workshops on BSE for owners and operators of small and very small establishments that process cattle. FSIS will also host town hall meetings for employees. Both employees and producers are encouraged to attend these meetings to learn about additional safeguards put into place in order to strengthen public health.
Workshops and town hall meetings have been held in Tacoma, Washington; Boise, Idaho; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and we have plans to be in Madison, Wisconsin later this week and Binghamton, New York next week. Attendance has been strong at the events that we have held. Industry groups have been very receptive to the workshops and FSIS has received positive feedback on both the workshops and the town hall meetings. FSIS has also released a series of agency directives and notices to ensure that inspection personnel fully understand their responsibilities under the new rules.
Additionally, FSIS has developed The ABC’s of BSE as a training program for FSIS field employees. The program provides the user with interactive training on the specific elements of the new rules, and includes a video by the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food that describes symptoms of BSE in live cattle.
We have kept industry and other stakeholders apprised of new information through meetings and conference calls. FSIS has been using USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline as another tool to share its food safety message and address public concerns regarding BSE. The Hotline handled over 98,000 calls last year and approximately 4,000 of these calls concerned BSE. The Hotline also fielded approximately 1,000 emails related to the BSE situation in Washington State. FSIS continues to make information available to the public through the Hotline and on the agency’s web site.
Conclusion
The BSE situation in Washington State has led to changes and reevaluations of food safety systems across the country. The recent measures implemented by USDA and our food safety partners emphasize our commitment to ensuring the public health. By continuing the coordination between USDA and other Federal, State, and local agencies, and by enhancing our scientific policies and working with our employees and stakeholders, we are confident that we can continue to provide consumers in the United States with a safe supply of meat, poultry, and egg products.
Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to discuss these issues with you today. I would be happy to respond to any questions that the Committee may have.
