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Scottish Office Consults on Proposed Changes to Animal Feed Legislation
15/12/1998
The Scottish Office today issued a consultation paper on proposed changes to animal feed legislation. The proposals would amend an existing Order to take account of experience in operating the legislation and would implement two pieces of European Community legislation.
The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (No. 2) Order 1996 bans feeding mammalian meat and bone meal to livestock as well as making other provisions in respect of BSE. This consultation paper proposes the following changes to the Order:
· to be able to restrict cattle born after 1 August 1996 which have inadvertently been exposed to meat and bone meal;
· to extend the definition of mammalian meat and bone meal to include greaves (the meal before it is ground);
· to amend the definition of "mammalian meat and bone meal" to include materials derived from meat and bone meal, including ash resulting from the incineration of MBM;
· to remove the 56 day limit on investigating the past history of BSE cases;
· to allow the taking of samples for research from field cases as has already been provided for in the new legislation on scrapie;
· to be able to recall ruminant feed which contains mammalian protein without having to prove that the protein is in the form of meat and bone meal.
BACKGROUND
1. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are issuing a similar consultation paper in England.
2. The consultation paper also encloses draft regulations implementing two European Community Decisions, which would enable samples to be taken for the purpose of enabling the Official ELISA tests for the identification of ruminant protein in feed intended for ruminants to be carried out. The obligation to carry out these tests is contained in Commission Decision 94/474/EEC as amended by Decision 95/287EC. Until now the programme for sampling farm animal feed for mammalian protein, which began in 1994, has been based on voluntary co-operation with the industry.
3. The second provision in the draft regulations relates to Commission Decision 98/272 on the epidemio-surveillance for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. This Decision has already been implemented in respect of scrapie. In the case of BSE, provisions relating to the restriction of suspects, the destruction of carcases and the payment of compensation have been implemented. However, powers to carry out epidemiological surveillance are considered to be necessary to fully implement Commission Decision 98/272.
4. Comments should be sent to Dominic Pagan, The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department, Room 350, Pentland House, 47 Robb's Loan, EDINBURGH, EH14 1TY by 8 February 1999.
News Release: 2650/98
15 December, 1998