Cheese warning in US mad sheep scare
19 July 2000
Cheese warning in US ‘mad sheep’ scare
By FWi staff
US health officials have advised consumers not to eat cheese made with milk from three flocks of sheep they fear could be infected with BSE.
Although BSE has not been recorded in sheep, and there are no known cases of transmission through dairy products, Vermont health commissioner Jan Carney said the public should err on the side of caution.
United States Department of Agriculture officials are testing the Vermont flocks which were imported from Belgium.
USDA said it would test for BSE as well as a type of scrapie and an unidentified type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)
British experts were sceptical about reports earlier this week that BSE had been discovered in the flocks.
Existing tests cannot distinguish scrapie from BSE said Peter Smith, acting chairman of government BSE advisors the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC)
The affected cheese is from two plants whose products are distributed to speciality stores throughout the USA, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The farmers who produce the cheese are contesting efforts to have their sheep destroyed.
British studies currently under way are examining the possibility that scrapie may be disguising the presence of a BSE-type disease in the national flock.
Preventative controls in the sheep industry may be insufficient if BSE is found in sheep, the Food Standards Agency said on Tuesday (18 July).
Experts have long recognised it is feasible that sheep could contract BSE as they were given contaminated feed in the past, but no evidence has yet been found.