Boosting Safety Initiatives In Colorado
US - The Colorado Department of Agriculture has received a grant totaling $680,000; the funds will be used to boost food and feed safety initiatives through Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) prevention programmes.“This grant will provide us the opportunity to expand our current BSE inspection program,” said Steve Bornmann, CDA’s inspection and consumer services director. “Colorado has over 2.5 million head of cattle so disease prevention is good, not only for the agricultural community, but for Colorado as a whole.”
Cattle with BSE, commonly referred to as “Mad Cow Disease,” display behavioral, gait and postural abnormalities. As the disease progresses the affected animals stumble, fall and eventually cannot stand up. There is no cure or treatment for this disease and it kills 100% of its victims.
The Ruminant Feed Ban/Feed Safety Support Program Grant, through the US Food and Drug Administration, funds major cooperative agreements in four major areas: response, intervention, innovation and prevention. The goal is to further enhance the infrastructure of BSE programs to increase the ability to locate and visit companies involved in the manufacture, distribution, and transportation of animal feed as well as operations feeding ruminant animals, and to verify their compliance with the ruminant feed ban and other feed safety regulations.
Funds will enable the laboratory to significantly increase its bovine DNA screening capability for detection of these banned materials in feeds and feedstocks, and increase analyses of feed for contamination such as toxins and adulterants.
Funds may also be used to conduct educational outreach activities and to develop materials needed to further enhance the industries' knowledge of and compliance with the ruminant feed ban and other feed safety regulations.
“We are excited to award this grant in an effort to provide greater food and feed safety and defense capabilities to better serve the citizens of the state,” said Joseph Reardon, Director of the FDA’s Division of Federal-State Relations.
CDA has been performing BSE inspections since 1998; BSE prevention rules help protect valuable export markets and bolster consumer confidence in Colorado beef products. For more information on BSE prevention, visit http://www.colorado.gov/ag/ics, click on the “Feed” button and then “BSE Prevention.”
TheCattleSite News Desk