§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people who have consumed meat from the offspring of BSE-infected cows since 1 November 2001. [37867]
§ Yvette CooperNo estimates are available, but the number of cases of BSE arising in cattle born since August 1996, and considered to be attributable to maternal transmission, is below expectations. In addition, certain key control mechanisms help protect consumers if there is a failure of the controls which exclude BSE offspring from the food chain. These include the ban on specified risk material from being used for human consumption and the over-thirty-months rule which prohibits older animals more likely to harbour infectivity from entering the food chain.