Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and its human form, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are an food safety international issue. Potentially infected BSE materials have been distributed throughout the world through trade of live cattle, cattle products and by-products. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Animal Health Organisation urge countries to evaluate their risks and take immediate action to safeguard the food supply.

International organizations and governments alike are moving to limit the human health risk from BSE. The FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius is currently finalizing work on a 'Code of Practice for Good Animal Feeding' to ensure that animal products do not create risks to consumers. This Code will contain regulations to ensure that foods and feedstuffs are traceable “one step forward and one step back” all the way from the farm to the fork.

Under the Codex Alimentarius Commission, traceability is defined as the ability to trace the history, application or location of a product, including:

• the origin of materials and parts
• the processing history
• the distribution and location of the product after delivery

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is also moving to establish food safety standards  that include a provision for the establishment of a “traceability system, which enables the identification of product lots and their relation with batches of raw materials, processing and distribution records”.

European Union

Identification and labelling of beef and veal is a particular concern for the EU. The EU regulation requires complete transparency of conditions governing the production and marketing of beef products. Their identification and registration system includes compulsory origin-based labelling for monitoring and traceability of products throughout the food chain:

• ear tags for the individual identification of cattle
• computerized databases
• cattle passports that track all movement
• individual holding registers detailing herd births, deaths and movements

Meat products must include labelling that includes the animal(s)’ reference code, country of origin, country, and place of raising and processing (including licence numbers of those involved). The regulations will be progressively extended to ensure that any meat imported to or raised in the EU will be traceable and safe.

Within the EU, strict feeding regulations are in place, including prohibition of:

• feeding protein derived from any mammal to ruminants
• feeding any protein transformed and derived from mammals, birds and fish to any farm intended for the production of food (milk and milk products, eggs and egg products as well as gelatine).

International trends

The International Office on Epizootic Diseases (OIE) also has strict regulations regarding import and export of food products, particularly beef. It guarantees the food safety of world trade by drafting health rules on the international trade of animals and their products.

Any country wishing to export meat products internationally will increasingly face stringent regulations regarding place of origin labelling and traceability requirements. At the moment, only Viewtrak has the technology in place to help North American exporters meet those requirements. All Viewtrak data is linked to mandatory tagging codes such as the Canadian Cattle Identification Program. It will also facilitate compliance with Country of Origin requirements for export to countries such as the United States.

More reading:

March 2003 EU Report: BSE: new state of play
http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/f83002.htm

Prevention, control and eradication of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/f83001.htm

BSE - Situation and outlook
http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l12043.htm

OIE BSE Regulations
http://www.oie.int/eng/maladies/fiches/a_b115.htm

Codex Alimentarius
http://www.codexalimentarius.net/

Institute of Food Science & Technology BSE vCJD Report
http://www.ifst.org/hottop5.htm

Identification and labelling of beef and veal
http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l12064.htm