Mad cow disease, as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is known, was first diagnosed among cattle in Great Britain in 1986. After the initial low number of cases it grew dramatically in the following years, peaking in 1992 and 1993 with 37,280 and 35,901 positive cases respectively. The most likely source of the infections was determined to be meat meal, bone meal and meat and bone meal that farmers gave to cattle as a food supplement. The hypothesis is that the source of the first outbreaks was sheep carcasses infected with scrapie. Recently it has often been hypothesised that BSE has long existed among cattle but there were only rare cases, in which the origin was conditioned by one or more environmental factors. According to epidemiological analysis a change in the regime at British animal processing plants, where a lower temperature began to be used in the processing of animal parts and carcasses and the organic solvent processing phase was omitted, also contributed to the spread of the disease.
Preventive Measures in Slovenia
To protect public health Slovenia has enforced bans on the import of live cattle and beef products from all countries where BSE has been detected with domestically born animals. Thus bans have been in effect on imports from Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, France and Switzerland since 1996 and from Belgium and the Netherlands since 1998, and have recently been imposed on imports from Denmark, Spain and Germany. At the beginning of next year a ban will be imposed on imports from countries that have not yet detected BSE cases if the countries do not impose the same measures as Slovenia.
In a bid to protect public health and to return consumer confidence in food of animal origin, the government introduced several measures at the end of November 2000. Central nervous system and lymphatic tissue from cattle, pigs, sheep and goats was eliminated from the public diet. The government also issued a decree banning the use of bone meal as animal feed. Slovenia thus joined the measures introduced by the European Commission. The decree will be enforced from 1 January 2001 to 30 June 2001 at the latest. In addition quick diagnosis of BSE is to be introduced by 1 January 2001. From that date abattoirs are obliged to submit cattle older than 30 months for mandatory testing for mad cow disease. Last December the government decided to provide the necessary equipment for laboratories, the purchase of which is expected to cost SIT 163 million (750,000 euros). The new equipment allows results to be established within 24 hours. Tests for BSE have been done, but the results were only available after four days. With the introduction of mandatory testing Slovenia implemented all the measures passed by the EU to combat and prevent the disease.
Like Sweden, Austria and Finland in the EU, Slovenia is one the European countries where a case of BSE is yet to be detected. In addition Slovenia banned the use of bone meal in bovine feed as early as 1996 and, if the measure is adopted by the EU, will also officially ban the use of bone meal in pig feed and poultry feed.
One of the biggest problems in implementing the measures aimed at preventing the spread of BSE in all countries is offal rejected during meat processing. Slovenia produces between 120 and 130 tonnes of such waste daily, and to date it has processed it to obtain bone meal. If Slovenia bans bone meal in non- bovine animal feed, the best solution would probably be to continue to produce the bone meal and store it until it is technically possible to incinerate it.
Since 1996 random monitoring of cattle older than four years has been conducted in Slovenia. Tissue is taken from the abattoir line for examination. In the last four years no changes characteristic of BSE have been found among 665 randomly selected animals. In addition to regular examination of healthy animals, all animals that show neurological disturbances, whether because of listeriosis, rabies or BSE, are also examined. An average of 20 animals are so examined each year. To date 80 per cent of the cases have involved listeriosis and 20 per cent rabies. Neurological disturbances have been diagnosed since 1992. In 2001 new tests for identifying infectious diseases will additionally be introduced. They will confirm with 95 per cent statistical significance the presence of disease among Slovenian herds, by which Slovenia will take a step ahead in comparison to EU countries that are only now introducing such testing. Even though a case of BSE has never been discovered in Slovenia additional measures are being carried out: since 1996 it has been prohibited to use brain, spine, lymphatic and small intestine tissue from cattle in human foodstuffs, and to use protein of mammalian origin in feed for ruminants. These bans do not apply in all EU countries.
According to risk analysis conducted in 1995 and 1996 conditions in connection with monitoring of BSE were good, and the following assessments were made:
- Slovenia's regulations on the import, export and transit of animals and products and raw materials of animal origin are in accordance with the relevant regulations in other European countries
- the country has introduced systematic monitoring including investigation of cattle brains for BSE
- the only case in the last 14 years of a registered import into Slovenia from a country where BSE occurred among domestically bred cattle was the import of 201 head of cattle from France
- since 1985 the entire quantity of raw material for meat and bone meal has been sterilised at the protein concentrates factory for 20 minutes at a temperature of 133oC and a pressure of 3 bars
- Slovenia has not imported meat and bone meal from countries where BSE has been registered
What are the current conditions in Slovenian cattle farming?
Owing to the recent outbreak of mad cow disease in France and certain other European countries, conditions in Slovenian cattle farming are becoming tougher again. As in 1996, this has caused a noticeable drop in consumption. This has resulted in falling demand for domestic cattle, leading to market surpluses and excess supply, which could bring about a further fall in the sales price and, given the rapid growth in breeding costs, could cause deterioration in the economic conditions for cattle farmers in Slovenia. At the moment there is no reason for emergency measures, but it is likely they will be adopted again in the years ahead, primarily support for storage and intervention purchases. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food will also carefully monitor conditions on the beef market and propose appropriate measures in accordance with the current conditions