Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 8/12/16


The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said it has reviewed and agrees with the World Organization for Animal Health’s (OIE) determination that 14 countries now are of negligible risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

The 14 countries are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, India, Korea (Republic of), Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia and Switzerland.

APHIS considers all countries of the world to fall into in one of three BSE risk categories: negligible risk, controlled risk or undetermined risk. Any region that is not classified by APHIS as presenting either negligible risk or controlled risk for BSE is considered to present an undetermined risk.

Under the regulations, APHIS may classify a region for BSE in one of two ways: countries that have not received a risk classification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) can request classification by APHIS, or APHIS can concur with the classification given to a country by the OIE.

The notice is available here and will publish on Aug. 10.