§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what research his Department has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on whether the rendering process carried out by approved rendering plants guarantees the denaturing of the prion thought to be responsible for BSE/nvCJD. [83741]
§ Mr. RookerMAFF commissioned two major studies on rendering processes. One examined the inactivation of the BSE agent by rendering procedures (see D. M. Taylor et al. Veterinary Record 1995. Vol. 137, 605–610) and the second examined the effects of rendering procedures on the scrapie agent (see D. M. Taylor et al. Veterinary Record 1997. Vol. 141, 643–649). The results of these experiments resulted in European Commission Decisions 94/382 and 96/449 being made, which set standards for the rendering of mammalian animal by-products throughout the European Union. This European legislation is currently implemented in the UK in the Specified Risk Material Regulations 1997 and the Animal By-Products Order 1999 and all approved UK rendering plants operate to these standards.
BSE is a notifiable disease in the UK. Cattle showing clinical signs suggestive of BSE are slaughtered on farm and sent for incineration. They are not rendered.