Irish BSE test

[moffat]

Took in a beef seminar today where a group from Ireland that is building a processing plant is SE Sask made a presentation. Seems they have a bse test that costs about $30.00 and they have results in 3-4 hours. They slaughter the animal one day, put it in a cooler and know the next day if it is ok. Seems to me this would get rid of the concern having to have a lot of extra cooler space at our kill plants while we wait for results. Both Canadian and US goverments are aware of this test. Suppose to be one of the most accurate test available.

[cowman]

Sounds good. Is this Irish group proposing testing all their product? If one plant goes for it they might drag the rest in. Will they label their product BSE free if they go that route? Keep us in formed.

[rodb]

It does sound good but I don't think you want to call anything BSE free. It is not detectable with the test used.

To illustrate my point, I will use a case that cost our operation a fair chunk of change even though we were just a supplier of seed. Because of a new more sensitive test markets were lost.

A processor in Alberta was sending potato products to Japan and was using a standardized test and protocol called for by the buyer and I presume the Japanese government. A new more sensitive DNA test (10,000 times) was developed and they found that some samples had GMO potatoes had been used in the product. Needless to say lawyers are involved and it is not done yet.

The other thing that we might find is that if we test every animal, the incidence of BSE might be higher than what we have been told and we could just very well kill the beef market for good. If we had all the answers to how does it start,what causes it, we could assure the beef eating public that their is minimum risk to eating beef and products derived from beef. Without this definitive knowledge there will always be a nagging doubt in the publics mind and a cloud over the beef adn for that matter the whole meat business.

[moffat]

unsure if they said if they would test all cattle but the comment was made that the Canadian standards would not be good enough for a lot of their export markets.

[moffat]

unsure if they said if they would test all cattle but the comment was made that the Canadian standards would not be good enough for a lot of their export markets.

[kato]

That sounds like the Prionics test. If so, it's the same one the CFIA just adopted for it's own use.

[cowman]

Rod: I suspect you are right when you say we can't be assured everything is BSE free. And we definitely don't know enough about this disease...and all the other related prion diseases! I think testing has got to either be done on everything or nothing!
The "perception" that the product is safe is what is important in an economic sense. If the consumer percieves that every animal is tested and every bad one is incinerated then they percieve that the product is safe. As has happened in Japan and France. Just increasing testing of more old cows guarantees that we will find more BSE positives and undermine consumer confidence?
Now I don't know if the beef is safe. And I don't think the scientists have a clue either. I suspect they are mostly doing damage control right now. We do need a whole lot more research on these diseases. But in the meantime we need a short term solution to this wreck or none of us will be in business.