Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 1/19/17


Ireland’s agriculture department confirmed Wednesday the discovery of a case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy in an 18-year-old cow.

The finding derived from the department’s surveillance of rendering facilities processing animals that died on farm, officials said. The animal tested positive on a screening test and follow-up tests confirmed the result.

Authorities noted that no public health risks are associated with this case. “A comprehensive set of public health controls are in place and the animal in this case was excluded from the food chain and its [carcass] will be incinerated,” the agency said in a statement on its website.

The disclosure of this case has no impact of Ireland’s current OIE BSE 'controlled risk’ status or trade status.

Atypical BSE is one of two types of BSE, and is thought to occur spontaneously in older animals and at a low incidence rate.

The other type is classical BSE. As with the European crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990s, classical BSE has caused extensive incidence and has been associated with the feeding of meat-and-bone meal.

There have been 101 atypical BSE cases identified in the European Union during from 2003 to 2015, compared to a total of 2,999 cases of classical BSE during the same period, according to Irish officials.

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