What measures are being taken to ensure food safety in the U.S. from BSE?
Since 1989, the FDA and other federal agencies have had ongoing regulatory measures in place to prevent BSE contamination of U.S. food and food products. Following the identification in a Washington state dairy herd of a BSE-positive cow imported from Canada, USDA issued new regulations containing additional safeguards to further minimize risk for introduction of the BSE agent into the U.S. food supply. See USDA’s website www.usda.gov for further information. Similarly, FDA has prohibited the use of the cattle materials that carry the highest risk of BSE in human food, including dietary supplements, and in cosmetics. FDA’s rule (and September 2005 amendments) prohibit use of the following cattle material in human food and cosmetics: • cattle material from non-ambulatory, disabled cattle, • cattle material from organs from cattle 30 months of age or older in which infectious prions are most likely to occur, and the tonsils and the distal ileum of the small intestine of cattle of all age
