A bulletin for the Australian Food Industry May 2001
Contents: Updating diagnostics for BSE | Joint actions and interactions between food additives | FDA final juice HACCP regulation | New hygiene guidelines for the food industry | USDA claims HACCP led to a decline in illnesses | US risk ranking of ready-to-eat foods
Updating diagnostics for BSE
To help maintain Australia's BSE-free status, three staff members from CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) undertook training and visited research institutes in Europe in February. This was part of an upgrade of the laboratory's diagnostic capability for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Meat and Livestock Australia provided funding for the trip.
TSEs include scrapie in sheep, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or 'mad cow disease' in cattle.
AAHL's Dr Deborah Middleton said that while Australia is currently considered to be free from BSE and scrapie, a high level diagnostic capability for these diseases is critical to provide added confidence to our trading partners.
Dr Middleton and two colleagues undertook a two-day hands-on training course in Switzerland on the Prionics AG test, covering every aspect of the testing procedure from sample collection to reporting results.
"The test allows a greater number of animals to be tested, in a shorter time and at lower cost than our current tests. It also provides the highest level of specificity and sensitivity. This new test will give us greater flexibility in meeting potential future demands for surveillance testing, which serves to confirm our ongoing freedom from BSE and scrapie, and to provide early warning of those diseases should they occur in the future," said Dr Middleton.
Following the emergence of BSE in the French and German herds, the European Union has adopted abattoir testing of all cattle aged over 30 months for BSE. Dr Middleton also visited the Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge, UK, and the Neuropathogenesis Unit at the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh for briefings on the latest research in pathogenesis and transmission of TSEs.
Dr Middleton said that "decades of research into TSEs has expanded our body of knowledge, but there is much to learn about these prion diseases, which are vastly different from other infectious processes".
"Talks with colleagues in Europe reinforced that Australia's quarantine processes and restrictions on animal feeds are appropriate and well designed. It is also clear that Australia must guard against complacency, which has been the downfall of a number of European countries. Our BSE-free status is precious and farmers, veterinarians and policy makers need to take it extremely seriously", she says.
The question of whether BSE arose from scrapie in sheep is one that might not be answered for many years.
"The implication is that it is just as important to be free of scrapie as it is to be free of BSE, as scrapie may mask the presence of the more serious disease", Dr Middleton says.
AAHL provides diagnostic testing for the National Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Surveillance Program, which is managed by Animal Health Australia and has been in place since 1998.
For information contact Dr Middleton on +61 3 5227 5016 or email Deborah.Middleton@csiro.au
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