2001 is turning out to be the livestock industry's year in the news. Outbreaks in Europe of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) more often referred to as "Mad Cow Disease" and Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) have brought additional food safety issues to the forefront concerning beef. These food safety issues are not only affecting consumers, but the producers as well.

First, let us address the BSE issue. There is NO BSE on this continent. There are related diseases in other species, such as deer and elk, but it is not BSE and cannot be spread to cattle, nor are these related diseases linked to "new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease" (nvCJD) the human form of the disease. There is fear among consumers of catching this disease from beef. The disease is spread through eating of the brain and spinal cord tissues. It is not spread through muscle tissue or in other words, the meat we normally eat. There are two important points that needs to pointed out again. First - - the causative agent is the brain and spinal cord tissue, not the muscle or the meat we normally eat. Second - - there is no BSE on this continent and import of cattle from countries with BSE stopped in 1989.

There are layers of safeguards to prevent BSE from ever entering this country. The safeguards include a ban on feeding ruminant meat and bone meal to ruminants, inspections at slaughter plants which monitor brain tissue to ensure that we are indeed BSE free and there is an additional safeguard going into effect April 1, 2001 (please see New Certification Requirements for Selling Livestock).

This new safeguard is the certification by the seller of livestock in the United States that they have not fed ruminant derived protein sources to their livestock. Beginning April 1, 2001 all livestock sellers will be required to have a signed certification form each time they sell livestock. As long as a producer has feed only cattle feed to their cattle there is no problem. It is illegal for manufacturer's of ruminant feeds to use any ruminant derived protein in their feeds. Unless a farmer has on their own been feeding meat or bone meal this certification should not be a problem.

Many people remember the scare in Texas last month, when many major news outlets were announcing a "Mad Cow Disease Scare in Texas." What happened in the situation, was that a feed producer accidently mixed prohibited products into a batch of feed that went to a Texas feedlot. When the feed producer noticed their mistake, they purchased and destroyed all the cattle that were feed the feed that contained mammalian/ruminant derived protein. Actually there was no BSE detected, the feed manufacturer was just abiding by the laws governing the production of feed to ruminants.

For those poultry producers that also raise cattle, it is important to remember that poultry feed should not be fed to cattle. Mammalian/ruminant derived protein can be used in poultry feed. Poultry is not susceptible to BSE. But if this feed is fed to cattle then a violation of not feeding mammalian/ruminant derived protein has occurred. If you are unsure of the protein sources used in your feed, ask the feed salesman or dealer for a list of ingredients and then keep the labels on file. The question may arise, that if feeding poultry feed may violate the protein ban, then what about feeding poultry litter. Even though poultry can be fed feeds with mammalian/ruminant derived protein, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has studied the issue of feeding poultry litter and has found that even if the BSE infectious agent where present it would not survive the digestive tract of the bird. Therefore feeding poultry litter remains a safe alternative feed for cattle.

In summary, the current feed rules that have been enacted by the FDA will safeguard the United States Beef industry and the U. S. beef consumer. It is the responsibility of those making the feed ingredients, feed manufacturers and the cattle producers to comply with all regulations. Cattle producers should follow the four following guidelines to make sure they do not violate the rules:

1. Never use a feed labeled "do not feed to cattle or other ruminants".

2. Keep labels and invoices whenever a ruminant feed contains animal protein products.

3. Keep documentation of the ingredient composition of any custom blended feeds you purchase, and request the feed blender to state on the invoice that the feed does not contain any materials prohibited to be in ruminant feeds.
4. Do not feed cattle leftover bulk feeds intended for other species unless you get in writing from the manufacturer the ingredient list along with assurance the feed does not contain materials prohibited to be in ruminant feeds.