Food Standards Agency
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Listen to this siteMonday 13 December 2004
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The Food Standards Agency held an open Board meeting on 9 December 2004 in London.
Five main papers were discussed by the Board: the Wall Review of Casualty Testing Failures: Next Steps; Review of Over Thirty Months Rule: Progress Report on the Assessment of Robustness of the Proposed BSE Testing Regime; BSE and Sheep Contingency Policy; Report from the Chair of the MHS Governing Board; and a paper on the White Paper on Public Health: Choosing Health and the FSA's Strategic Plan 2005/10. FSA Chair Sir John Krebs and Chief Executive Jon Bell updated the Board on developments since the previous meeting, and there were reports from the chairs of the Advisory Committees in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Back to topThis paper asked the FSA Board to note the action taken and agree the action planned to address the recommendations made in the report of the independent inquiry into BSE-testing failures by the MHS in Great Britain (the Wall Report).
The inquiry into the failure by the MHS to test an estimated 229 casualty cattle aged 24-30 months for BSE, was initiated by the FSA Board in June 2004 following MHS internal audits and management checks that uncovered these failures.
The inquiry was set up to find out the reasons for the failings and why they were not identified earlier; as well as to make recommendations to improve the robustness of the testing arrangements so as to minimise the likelihood of this, or a similar problem, recurring.
Agency Chair Sir John Krebs reminded the Board that the incident had been a serious failure of controls in terms of surveillance but not directly in terms of food safety.
The Board:
On 1 December 2004 Ministers announced the start of a managed transition towards the lifting of the Over Thirty Months (OTM) Rule following advice from the Food Standards Agency that the current control measures are no longer proportionate to the risk.
The OTM Rule is the BSE control set up in 1996 that automatically bans older cattle from entering the human food chain. It is one of the two main food safety controls in relation to BSE operated in the UK - the other being Specified Risk Material (SRM) controls. The primary BSE control, the removal of Specified Risk Material (SRM), which removes more than 99% of any infectivity that may be present, will remain in place.
The announcement made clear that the final switch from the OTM rule to testing should happen only when the FSA has advised Ministers that the BSE testing system will be robust.
The FSA has set up an independent group to assist in providing advice on the robustness of the proposed testing system, which will take into account the recent failures to test some under 30 months casualty cattle.
The independent group has met so far three times. The group's initial report (which was attached in an annex to the paper) set out:
The group's final report on the robustness of the proposed testing system, following the extended trials, is planned to come forward for discussion by the Board in May 2005.
The Board:
This report considered the approach the Agency should take if BSE were to be found in UK sheep or goats.
A number of possible risk management options were explored in the paper ranging from the current FSA policy of allowing only resistant and semi-resistant sheep under 12 months into the food chain, to removing all sheep above a certain age or extending the list of specified risk material and introducing testing in abattoirs.
Provisional costs and an indication of risk reduction were presented for these risk management options.
The Board:
This paper reported progress to the FSA Board on establishing the MHS Governing Board and on its first meeting in November 2004.
The FSA Board:
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