BSE in Terrestrial Code

Major changes in Terrestrial Code are made in Chapter 11.4 – Bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The кey point is the date from which the risk of BSE agents being recycled within the bovine population has been negligible, Etienne Bonbon, President of the Terrestrial Animal Health Standards Commission told at the seminar on BSE for the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. 

New Code Adopted in 2023 but changes on status only for 2024. 

BSE as a disease includes both classical and atypical forms, but the case definition does not include atypical BSE, which does not comply with the criteria for listing (so not ‘notifiable’). 

Criteria for the determination of the BSE risk: 

• risk assessment always includes entry, exposure and consequence;
• risk mitigation measures can be non-specific (livestock management practices) or specific (feed bans);
• includes surveillance and ‘history’ of atypical. 

Surveillance is based on clinical screening (much less tests)

Maintenance of controlled or negligible status is possible even with new case if demonstrated that the risk of BSE agents being recycled within the bovine population continues to be negligible. 

Recommendations for trade: 

• are not very stringent except for a few specified risk materials that are banned from trade 
• are based not only on the status of the country but also on the date of birth of the exported bovines or products thereof; hence the importance of animal identification & traceability 

Clinical surveillance means a knowledge of nervous disorders for differential diagnosis.

Thus the BSE surveillance include clinical plus tests, only classical form of notification and management of atypical forms. The status includes the date from which the risk of recycling has been negligible. Safe trade presumes no major restrictions if there is proper identification. SRM has short list linked with age.