The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday issued the final rule that bans certain cattle parts from animal and pet food in an effort to prevent mad cow disease.
The final rule further protects animals and consumers against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, known as "mad cow disease"),said the federal agency in a statement.
The brains and spinal cords from cattle 30 months of age and older are of high risk for carrying the agent that causes BSE and are thus no longer allowed to be used in animal feed, according to the regulation.
The entire carcass of cattle not inspected and passed for human consumption is also prohibited, unless the cattle is less than 30 months of age, or the brains and spinal cords have been removed.
The risk of BSE in cattle less than 30 months of age is considered to be exceedingly low.
The removal of high-risk materials from all animal feed will further prevent from happening the inadvertent transmission of the agent thought to cause BSE, or the accidental feeding of such ingredients to cattle.
"This FDA action serves to further protect the U.S. cattle population from the already low risk of BSE," said Dr. Bernadette Dunham, director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. "The new rule strengthens existing safeguards."
The FDA said that the final rule is effective 12 months from Wednesday so as to allow the livestock, meat, rendering, and feed industries enough time to adapt their practices to comply with the new regulation.
Scientific studies have linked BSE to cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) in humans, an invariably fatal disease that most likely results from human consumption of infectious material from cattle with BSE. A 1997 FDA rule prohibited specific risk materials from use in the human food supply.
Source: Xinhua
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