J Vet Sci.  2006 Mar;7(1):1-11. 10.4142/jvs.2006.7.1.1.

BSE situation and establishment of Food Safety Commission in Japan

• Onodera T
• Kim CK

• KMID: 1103546
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2006.7.1.1

Abstract

Eight major policies were implemented by Japanese Government since Oct. 2001, to deal with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). These are; 1) Surveillance in farm by veterinarian, 2) Prion test at healthy 1.3mi cows/yr, by veterinarian, 3) Elimination of specified risk material (SRM), 4) Ban of MBM for production, sale use, 5) Prion test for fallen stocks, 6) Transparent information and traceability, 7) New Measures such as Food Safety Basic Law, and 8) Establish of Food Safety Commission in the Cabinet Office. At this moment, the extent of SRM risk has only been indicated by several reports employing tests with a limited sensitivity. There is still a possibility that the items in the SRM list will increase in the future, and this indiscriminately applies to Japanese cattle as well. Although current practices of SRM elimination partially guarantee total food safety, additional latent problems and imminent issues remain as potential headaches to be addressed. If the index of SRM elimination cannot guarantee reliable food safety, we have but to resort to total elimination of tissues from high risk-bearing and BSE-infected animals. However, current BSE tests have their limitations and can not yet completely detect highrisk and/or infected animals. Under such circumstances, tissues/wastes and remains of diseased, affected fallen stocks and cohort animals have to be eliminated to prevent BSE invading the human food chain systems. The failure to detect any cohort should never be allowed to occur, and with regular and persistent updating of available stringent records, we are at least adopting the correct and useful approach as a reawakening strategy to securing food safety. In this perspective, traceability based on a National Identification System is required.

Keyword

bovine spongiform encephalopathy; BSE; Food Safety Comission; specified risk material; surveillance test; traceability

MeSH Terms

Animal Feed/*standards
Animals
Cattle
Consumer Product Safety/*legislation&jurisprudence
Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform/epidemiology/*prevention&control
Female
Food Chain
Japan/epidemiology
Meat/*standards
Risk Assessment
Risk Management

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Regulation of animal feed. In October 2001, usage of meat- and bone-meal (MBM) for feed has been totally prohibited. However, securing effectiveness of feed regulations is required from now on since the possibilities of crosscontamination in the process of feed production in feed mixture factories and during the transportation of materials have been pointed out, by the Epidemiological Surveillance Team of the MAFF.

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  Fig. 2 Detection of BSE prions by rapid test, Western blot (WB), and immunohistochemistry (IHC), MAFF and MHWL are collaborating for the surveillance and screening of BSE in Japan.

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