Since the earliest case of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) epidemic was first confirmed in the United Kingdom in 1987, strict legislation was set up year after year. This has been done taking into account new scientific and epidemiologic evidences showing that meat and bone meal are the most probable vector of the disease. Nowadays, the European Commission has come to the stage that amendments of certain measures could be envisaged, without endangering the health or the policy of eradicating BSE, provided that the positive trend continues and scientific conditions are in place. The scientific conditions regarding the amendments of the total feed ban include the development and validation of analytical methods and tools for the detection of the presence of species-specific animal proteins in animal feed. The SAFEED-PAP project aims to complete the scientific conditions that should allow the repealing of the extended feed ban.
The SAFEED-PAP project has three main objectives that should lead to solve the problematic of the species specific detection of MBM in compound feeds: (i) Development of suitable validated methods for the species specific detection and quantification of animal protein in compound feed in order to allow the amendment of the extended total ban; (ii) Development of tools and analytical kits for the correct implementation of the methods in the labs; (iii) To set up the appropriate environment for the optimum application of the methods.
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J.A. Fernandez-Pierna
Walloon Agricultural Research Centre , Belgium |
