At the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) annual congress in Paris recently, negligible-risk status for BSE was awarded to six more countries – Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Costa Rica, Mexico and Namibia.

That just leaves Ireland, France, Britain, Northern Ireland, Poland and Greece from Europe with controlled-risk status, a level below negligible-risk status.

The main difference between the two states is in the dealing with offal and byproduct, with negligible-risk status allowing product that has to be disposed of at a cost to the industry be reclassified as a foodstuff. It also widens the export opportunities for older cattle as many Asian markets demand cattle to be under 30 months when buying from controlled-risk countries.

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Ireland and France had been classified as negligible-risk at last year’s congress but promptly lost the status after individual cases were discovered in both countries a short time after gaining the new status. Ireland will not be eligible for negligible-risk status again until 2021 as the criteria is 11 clear years of BSE since the birth of the last case. The animal in Ireland’s case last year was born in 2010.

On a more positive note, Northern Ireland is currently out to consultation on applying for negligible-risk approval at next year’s congress in 2017. Status can be awarded to regions as well as countries, making Northern Ireland eligible to apply in its own right.

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