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The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), on behalf of authorities in England, Scotland and Wales, has asked farmers across Britain to complete a survey relating to the use of old feed bins on farms.
The main aim of the survey is to find out if farmers are still using feed bins / storage areas that pre-date the ban on animal proteins being fed to farm animals, implemented in 1996 as a result of BSE.
The results of the survey will be used to help support a request for Britain to obtain negligible risk status for BSE from the world organisation for animal health (OIE).
According to British authorities this low-risk status will “help facilitate trade and access new markets” for beef.
Last BSE case
The most recent classical case of BSE was found in a 2015-born dairy cow on a farm in Somerset back in September 2021. Investigations found there was no evidence of any rules being broken, but there was a feed silo on the farm in continuous use since the early 1980s.
“The most likely source [of infection] is assessed to be residual material remaining in this silo,” reads an APHA report from December 2021.
NI has had negligible risk status for BSE since May 2017, while the Republic of Ireland re-gained the status in May 2021.
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