Does meat come from young cattle?
The incubation period for BSE is very long: 4–5 years. During this period, cattle exposed to the BSE agent show no symptoms and, until late in the period, have no infectious material in their tissues. If cattle are slaughtered at a young age (preferably under 30 months), the likelihood that veal or beef and other bovine products can transmit vCJD is greatly reduced. Are high-risk tissues removed and destroyed? The agent that causes BSE is not distributed evenly throughout the animal’s body, but is concentrated in certain tissues, most notably the brain and spinal cord, related to the central nervous system. Stringent slaughter practices that remove and destroy these high-risk tissues have an immediate impact on food safety and can protect consumers even when BSE is established within a country. Are procedures in place to prevent cross-contamination in slaughterhouses? The agent that causes BSE, and presumably vCJD, has never been detected in bovine skeletal muscle tissues, from which m
