Scrapie

  • Scrapie sheep kidnappers say infected flock in protective custody

    Posted: April 30th, 2012 - 12:17am by Doug Powell

    PC may be politically correct, but in jail it means protective custody, not much better than the hole.

    Two days after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed scrapie in a recently deceased sheep from a quarantined flock in Eastern Ontario, and a month after CFIA was scheduled to confiscate the Shropshire sheep, the previously unknown group Farmers' Peace Corps kidnapped the 31 sheep slated for slaughter, leaving a note that read:

    “We have taken the animals into protective custody until an alternative to killing has been found, or conclusive independent proof or clear evidence of disease has been proven. This has been done without the knowledge or participation of the owner.”

    What say the people’s front now that scrapie has been confirmed? Not independent? Testing for scrapie or other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies isn’t something that can be done in a basement, like genetic engineering.

    The Globe and Mail reports that on Friday, CFIA notified Ms. Jones that an autopsy showed a sheep that died at the end of March on the farm was infected with scrapie.

    Montana Jones, the owner, said, “I don’t believe Lava (the name of the sheep) was actually infected. They just needed a sheep to pin it on. I just want whoever has my flock to bring it back to me and then everybody leave me alone.”

    CFIA said in its positive test announcement that Canada’s approach to confirmed or suspected cases of scrapie is based on internationally accepted science and seeks to minimize disruptions to producers.

    The missing sheep pose a serious risk for scrapie and could spread the disease to other sheep and goats. Any premises that receive them will be subject to a quarantine and further regulatory action.

    Quarantine breaches put the livestock industry and the economy at risk. Any person who breaches a quarantine may be subject to criminal prosecution under the Health of Animals Act.

     

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    Cfia, policy, Scrapie, Sheep
  • Atypical scrapie in single NZ sheep

    Posted: October 27th, 2009 - 9:18pm by Doug Powell

    Contrary to what the New Zealand Herald reported tonight (this morning in NZ), the animal in question was born in NZ, not the UK, because NZ does not import sheep from the UK.

    MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA)     today confirmed that a series of New Zealand and European laboratory tests on a single New Zealand sheep brain have detected the condition atypical scrapie (also known as Nor 98).

    Atypical scrapie/Nor 98 is a relatively recently discovered brain condition of sheep and goats that is quite different from the classical form of scrapie. 

    Neither atypical scrapie/Nor 98 nor scrapie is known to pose any risk to human health or the safety of eating meat or animal products.

    MAFBNZ Principal International Adviser Dr Stuart MacDiarmid says global knowledge about atypical scrapie/Nor 98 is evolving.  The widely accepted mainstream scientific view is that it occurs spontaneously or naturally in very small numbers of older sheep in all sheep populations around the world.

    “This positive detection of atypical scrapie/Nor 98 in a sheep from New Zealand’s national flock reinforces that view.  Every country that has conducted sufficient surveillance for atypical scrapie/Nor 98 has found it in their flocks.  This includes most Scandinavian and EU countries, the UK, the USA and Canada,” he says.

    The detection does not change New Zealand’s status as free from scrapie.

    Dr MacDiarmid says because of this scrapie freedom status, New Zealand supplies sheep brains to the European Union for use in the development of tests for scrapie. 

    “The affected brain was one of a consignment of 200 brains sent for this purpose.  EU-authorised tests carried out in New Zealand prior to shipment had not picked up anything unusual.  However further tests in Europe and re-testing in New Zealand on different parts of the brain from the area originally tested have now established a diagnosis of atypical scrapie/Nor 98.

    There is no evidence that atypical scrapie/Nor 98 can be transmitted naturally to other animals or to people, or that it in any way affects people.

     

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    Food Safety Policy  |  0 Comments
    Atypical, Nzfsa, Scrapie, Sheep, Zealand
  • If it's not Scottish, it's craaaaapp

    Posted: January 20th, 2008 - 7:28pm by Doug Powell

    After 19 years, the Scottish government is bent on asking the United States to overturn its ban on Scotland's traditional and national dish called 'haggis.'

    The U.S. implemented a ban on haggis from Scotland in 1989 amidst the bovine spongiform encephalopathy [mad cow] scare because the dish contains offal ingredients such as sheep lungs. Sheep can suffer from scrapie, which is in the same family of diseases as BSE.

    A Scottish government spokesperson told BBC News,

    "The market is massive because there are so many expat Scots there and once Americans try a good quality haggis, they can't get enough of it."

    A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said,

    "We do not allow importation because of the U.K.'s BSE status. Sheep are susceptible to TSE's and thus the U.S. takes precautions on importing those ruminants from BSE-affected countries."

    A spokesman for Britain's Food Standards Agency said,

    "We see no reason at all why people cannot eat haggis safely, so long as manufacturers follow hygiene legislation."

    The story says that haggis is traditionally served with tatties and neeps (potatoes and turnips). It usually contains a sheep's lungs, liver and heart minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt mixed with stock. It is then boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.


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    Norovirus  |  1 Comment
    haggis, Observation, Scotland, Scrapie