New, safer BSE carcass disposal
17 April 2001
New, ‘safer’ BSE carcass disposal
By FWi staff
A NEW disposal process for BSE-infected cattle promises to destroy disease pathogens, leaving waste environmentally safe, reports the Financial Times.
Clydebank-based company Waste Reduction Europe has applied a process used in the USA to dispose of sheep infected with scrapie.
Under the technique, carcasses are pressure-cooked to 1,500°C, destroying pathogens and reducing tissue to a solution which can be poured into sewers.
Other means of reducing or burning infected carcasses have so far failed to eliminate BSE pathogens, reports the FT.
There are fears that cattle buried in the foot-and-mouth outbreak could contaminate the environment with BSE prions.
Waste Disposal Europe is seeking final approval for the technique from the EU.
- Europe to ban livestock burials, FWi, 23 June, 2000
- Financial Times 17 April, 2001 page 2