Although the suspected case of BSE in a cow in Co Louth remains to be confirmed, there is general expectation that confirmation of a classic case of BSE is imminent.

While this isn’t the news anyone in the beef industry wants to hear, in truth it won’t be any great surprise – the industry was prepared for the worst from the moment the announcement was made about a suspected case.

The Department of Agriculture expects to receive final confirmation from the Pirbright Lab today (Thursday). The Irish Farmers Journal understands that all cohort animals have been slaughtered and tested at this stage, with all results negative.

With the announcement that it is a classic case of BSE, it is likely that the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) will reclassify Ireland as a controlled BSE risk country. From a commercial perspective, this isn’t a particular problem, as it was under this category that Ireland opened several international markets in recent years.

The announcement by the US last year that it was lifting its ban on Ireland ahead of the rest of Europe demonstrated real confidence in our control systems from the country with probably the most demanding standards in the world for imports. This was followed up at the start of this year by the announcement that the Chinese too were lifting their BSE ban on Ireland.

The fact that Ireland only recently achieved the negligible risk status means that little international marketing activity will have been undertaken while in this category.

If Ireland were to make a case that allowed us hold on to it, brilliant. If not, and we return to the controlled risk category where we were previously, we should be able to continue as before.

In terms of immediate impact on cattle trade, buyers of Irish beef seem to have understood that this is an isolated one-off occurrence of a disease that is in the final stages of eradication. Prices have firmed since the original announcement.

What is BSE?

BSE or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy is a brain disease in cattle that causes the animal’s brain to degenerate. Clinical symptoms are the animal staggering and unable to control its movements. It cannot be treated.

What causes it?

There are basically two types of BSE. One is known as Atypical. It is sporadic and is used to explain an animal taking the staggers without any known reason.

The other and most common is Classic BSE which is generally associated with cattle eating contaminated feed. This was meat and bone meal (MBM) which was made from rendered parts of the animal not used elsewhere in the food chain.

It was banned as an animal feed in the UK in 1988 but it was still sold and exported by the UK right up until a worldwide ban in 1996 and it was 2001 before the EU imposed a complete ban on the feeding of MBM to all farm animals. This period of only a partial ban meant that it is likely contaminated feed was around the industry for a much longer period than it should have been.

Why is it an issue?

Apart from the financial and welfare impact as an animal health issue, it is believed to cause a variant of CJD in humans if contaminated animal products enter the food chain.

The establishment of strict controls to prevent any part of the animal linked to the brain entering the human food chain was the foremost precaution measure on cattle entering the food chain.

There is a veterinary inspection process for all cattle prior to slaughter for human consumption and post slaughter as well.

Why is BSE back in the news?

With the control measures that have been in place for over two decades, it is accepted that BSE eradication is entering its final phase. In Ireland, incidence of the disease peaked at 330 cases in 2002. This fell dramatically in the following years as the control measures took effect. By 2009, incidence was down to nine cases in the Irish herd, by 2012 this had fallen to three, followed by just a single case in 2013.

The fact that almost two years had passed since that last case meant Ireland was confident that eradication of BSE from Ireland had been complete. However, the finding of this recent suspected case in Co Louth suggests that the process isn’t complete and further isolated examples could occur in the years ahead.

It is because we went two years since the last case and achieved negligible risk status with OIE that the unexpected appearance of a case makes the news at this time.