TAFS News

TAFS involved in GRF One Health Summit 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:54:00 +0000

In February 2012 the Global Risk Forum GRF Davos holds an international health conference in Davos, Switzerland. The first GRF One Health Summit 2012 will contribute to advancing the concept of “One Health”, striving for intensive collaboration among all stakeholders related to public health. Such an approach acknowledges the systemic interconnections of human, animal and environmental health in close relation with food safety and security and will ensure sustainable public health in an era of climate change, resource depletion, land degradation, hunger and socio-economic development challenges.

The call for contributions for the GRF One Health Summit 2012 is now open. You are invited to submit an abstract for an oral or poster presentation relating to the topics of the conference. Representatives from the medical sciences, natural and social sciences, the health workforce as well as the pharma-, food- and insurance-industry are particularly addressed to register.

For further information please visit http://onehealth.grforum.org

The TAFS forum is involved in the planning and organization of the conference. We are currently working out what exactly our role will be.

Two new members

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:51:00 +0000

They arrived as guests at our latest meeting and left as new members: TAFS warmly welcomes Caspar von der Crone from the European Egg, Poultry and Game Association (EPEGA) and Dr. Hugo Seemer from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH. We look forward to working with you towards healthier animals and safer food.

Transmission of prions through aerosols

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:17:00 +0000

TAFS member A. Aguzzi reports in a recent paper about very efficient transmission of prions by aerosols. This important study adds airborne-transmission to the previous list of (natural or experimental) transmission pathways: food, blood, milk, saliva, feces and urine.

Laboratories that work with TSEs may need to update their biosafety guidelines accordingly and improve protection against inhalation of aerosols.

Other than that this study bears no consequences for day-to-day life. Coughing animals or patients do not exhale prions. Further evidence against high risk in everyday working life comes from the fact that none of the vCJD victims had worked in a slaughterhouse where he might have been exposed to prion-contaminated dust.

http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1001257

Summary and simplified version of position paper on feed ban relaxation

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:26:00 +0000

In addition to the recently published full position paper on a potential relaxation of the feed ban, TAFS has posted today a shortened and simplified version for those who only want to know about the key arguments and take home message. As the full version, the short one is available at http://www.tafsforum.org/tse.html.

New TAFS Position Paper on Relaxation of Feed Ban

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:03:00 +0000

TAFS has published a new position paper, discussing the pros and cons of a potential relaxation of the feed ban that was introduced in the EU and elsewhere to break the BSE infection cycle. The paper lists key requirements that would need to be met before the feed ban for non-ruminants could be relaxed. As these requirements are currently not met TAFS concludes that maintenance of the ban is the only means to drive the level of risk towards zero.
The paper can be downloaded from the TAFS website at http://www.tafsforum.org/tse.html.

TAFS in European Financial Times on October 14

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:11:00 +0000

On October 14, the European Financial Times will come with an insert, a 'briefing' of 96 pages on food security. TAFS and its activities are presented on page 42-43. The briefing will also be available at www.feedingthefuture.eu.

TAFS at Food Safety Conference in Shanghai November

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 09:20:00 +0000

TAFS will participate in the China International Food Safety & Quality Conference + Expo in Shanghai, November 10-11, 2010. See http://www.chinafoodsafety.com/conference_e.htm for further details. On November 11, we will present our platform in a breakout session (session L, starting at 1:30 pm) under the title "The TAFS Forum - A Platform for Collaboration Across Borders and Sectors". Come and meet us there.

US committee reports on ruminants as key source of MAP in food

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:18:00 +0000

The US National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods has published its review 'Assessment of Food as a Source of Exposure to Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP)'. Key conclusions of the report are:

Current methods for detection of MAP have significant limitations.
A standard method for the detection of viable MAP cells needs to be developed and adopted by researchers in order to accurately determine the presence and numbers of MAP in foods and other potential sources of exposure.
Aside from MAP-infected domestic ruminant animals, the organism is found infrequently. This may be a function of low prevalence and/or a consequence of the absence of reliable detection methods.
If MAP in cattle is controlled, the source of MAP in other animals, food, and water may largely be eliminated.
Milk, particularly raw milk, may be a likely food source for human exposure to MAP.
Thermal processes that deliver a 4- to 7-log reduction in the number of MAP cells should be adequate to inactivate the numbers of MAP estimated to be present in raw milk.
A small percentage (< 3%) of commercially pasteurized
milk may contain small numbers of viable MAP cells.
Although the data are limited, cheese made from pasteurized milk is probably not a significant source of exposure to MAP, but the potential for exposure to MAP from milk products made from raw milk is unknown.
Given the prevalence of MAP in U.S. cattle herds, ground beef may be a potential source of MAP.
MAP survives in cattle feces, water, and soil and is found in many wild animals; therefore, farm runoff may potentially contaminate irrigation water, which can come in contact with fruits and vegetables and result in human exposure.
Although there is no information to indicate that municipal drinking water is a source of human exposure to MAP, further study is needed.
Although humans may be exposed to MAP through a variety of routes, including food and the environment, determination of the frequency and amount of exposure will require additional research.

The Committee was not being asked to consider the question of whether or not MAP is a human pathogen.

Source: Journal of Food Protection, Vol. 73, No. 7, 2010, Pages 1357 - 1397

India and Peru have 'negligible' BSE risk

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:59:00 +0000

At its 78th General Session, the World Organisation for Animal Health OIE has newly recognised India and Peru as having a 'negligible' BSE risk.

The Republic of Korea and Panama were added to the list of countries with 'controlled' BSE risk.

The complete lists of countries with OIE-recognised BSE status are available at http://www.oie.int/eng/Status/BSE/en_BSE_free.htm (not yet including this years additions).

Source: OIE

J. Matern chairs Global Food Safety Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:13:00 +0000

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), managed by The Consumer Goods Forum, announced the appointment of Jürgen Matern, Vice President, Strategic Quality Management at Metro AG and member of TAFS. TAFS congratulates Jürgen Matern to this honourable achievement and looks forward to a fruitful collaboration with GFSI.

Paper on Swine Influenza and 2009 Pandemic Influenza

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:04:00 +0000

TAFS has broadened its scope: besides TSEs and Paratuberculosis, Influenza has been taken up as our third topic. An informational paper on this topic is published on TAFS' website.

TAFS presents knowledge about Paratuberculosis in novel format

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:49:00 +0000

Knowledge dissemination about transmissible animal diseases and food safety is a key mandate of TAFS. So far, we have done this through public conferences and position papers on our website. Now, TAFS has taken a novel approach and makes the knowledge captured in previous documents available through 'Grasp-It®', a tool that sorts statements into three categories (facts, opinions, assumptions) and makes the semantic relationships betweem them transparent (e.g., opinion x is based on fact y and assumption z).

Go to www.grasp-it.ch to learn more about the approach or start the tool here.

Note that all users can suggest amendments and changes to the statements made about Paratuberculosis which TAFS will regularly review and consider for implementation.

New member to strengthen consumer perspective at TAFS

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:17:00 +0000

As per January 1st, 2010, TAFS welcomes Professor Dr. Klaus G. Grunert of the Aarhus School of Business, Denmark, as its latest member.

Prof. Grunert is director of the MAPP Centre for Research on Customer Relations in the Food Sector.

Welcome!

Possible Transmission of BSE and Scrapie to Fish

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:29:00 +0000

A new paper* is addressing the transmissibility of BSE and Scrapie to fish.

TAFS comments on the paper:
The authors describe an experimental challenge of fish (Gilthead Sea bream), and acknowledge that they still have to prove that the fish were actually infectious. The paper is mainly descriptive pathology, but appears to be worthy of consideration. Confirmation that the deposits identified in the brains of challenged fish is infectious is however important.

The fish were exposed orally (force-fed), to a total of approx 50mg of BSE-infected (or scrapie infected) brain tissue, divided into five doses, administered at two weekly intervals. While the outcome may demonstrate a theoretical risk of infection in fish, future risk assessments will need to take into account many more factors. While in the UK there was no evidence of susceptibility of fish in 1996, when the feeding of mammalian meat and bone meal (MBM) to fish was first prohibited. The key reason for the prohibition was to prevent the circulation of mammalian MBM, with risk of accidental contamination of ruminant feed. It was not because the fish were thought to have been at risk.

Since then of course fish meal has also been prohibited from ruminant feed (except for limited exclusions) in the EU, but again, this was primarily because it was not possible to exclude the possibility that the fishmeal was contaminated with mammalian MBM. Discriminatory tests are still not sufficiently robust to ensure that contamination does not occur.

Future risk assessments will however need to take this result into account, especially if the fish are shown to be truly infected. It does mean that fish waste that is converted into fish meal could theoretically end up infecting ruminants if recycled. Having said that, it is important to remember that:-
a) the prevalence of BSE in cattle, and protective measures in force, are going to be key factors in determining whether or not there is a real risk of infecting farmed fish, if they are fed on ruminant MBM. In countries where controls are in place, with SRM removed and destroyed, it is most unlikely that fish will be exposed to sufficient infectivity to result in infection. Methods of meal production may also reduce the likelihood of high infectious doses in the meal. In countries where BSE controls, such as SRM removal, are not in place, the likelihood of infectivity being present will be dependent on BSE prevalence. OIE country categorisation gives an indication of this risk, but at present no countries are currently identified as representing a high risk.
b) in most countries where fishmeal is fed to livestock, it largely arises from fish caught at sea, which will not have been fed on ruminant MBM. It is possible however that the development of fish farming to meet long term nutrition needs of consumers could present a danger to cattle if their waste was recycled in large volumes to cattle (but only if they have been fed BSE in the first place). Perhaps more importantly would be the feeding of fish on fishmeal produced from infected farmed fish of the same species. Recycling within a species has the potential to adapt the agent to the species, with the result that they are more easily infected. The UK BSE epidemic was an example of recycling within a species which resulted in the exposure of increasing numbers of cattle with each phase of recycling. It has to be noted however that in many countries the conditions under which animal wastes are processed have changed, and may no longer represent the same potential for recycling that led to the BSE epidemic.
c) key to whether or not infected fish represent a risk to farm animals, fish or humans will be the biological properties of the agent, if it is demonstrated that the fish are actually infected. Will the agent behave like BSE or scrapie? While behaviour that is identical to bovine BSE may be assumed to represent a similar risk to animals or humans that consume infected tissues, any deviation from the BSE characteristics means that the risks cannot be quantified. There is currently no evidence that other prion diseases of animals represent a danger to humans (see TAFS statement on the transmission of scrapie via milk).

*Salta E, Panagiotidis C, Teliousis K, Petrakis S, Eleftheriadis E, et al. (2009) Evaluation of the Possible Transmission of BSE and Scrapie to Gilthead Sea
Bream (Sparus aurata). PLoS ONE 4(7): e6175. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006175

Risk Management Paratuberculosis

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:02:00 +0000

TAFS published its first position paper on a non-TSE animal disease today. It is a recommended risk management plan for paratuberculosis and available for download from the TAFS website.

Fish study holds hope for CJD drug

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:47:00 +0000

We know that rogue prions cause CJD and mad cow disease, but what normally folded prion proteins do has been a mystery, because experimental mice without them are almost normal.

Now Edward Málaga-Trillo and colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany have discovered that depriving zebrafish of prions has a much more obvious effect. This holds out hope for future drug development (PLoS Biology, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000055).

Zebrafish have two versions of the protein. Blocking one stops the brain forming correctly; blocking the other stops the cell migration that guides embryo growth. Time-lapse photos show that the prions help cells to signal and stick to each other.

The finding may explain why disrupting normal prion production causes the dementia of CJD. "In fish embryos we see the protein helping cells communicate," Málaga-Trillo told New Scientist. "It may do something analogous in the mammalian brain, such as building synapses. That may be what goes wrong in prion diseases."

The work also means zebrafish might be useful in drug development. Because disrupting prions has such dramatic effects in these embryos, a drug that protects the protein should be easy to identify.

Source: New Scientist, 2699, March 11, 2009

2 more position papers on TSE updated

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Two more updated versions of TAFS Position Papers on TSE have been posted today:
- Testing of cattle for BSE
- Slaughter practices and the dangers of carcase contamination with BSE.

The papers can be downloaded from the TAFS website.

3 position papers on TSE updated

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:03:00 +0000

Three updated versions of TAFS Position Papers on TSE have been posted today:
- BSE in small ruminants
- Transmission of scrapie via milk
- Specified risk materials.

The papers can be downloaded from the TAFS website.

Metro Group represented in TAFS

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:45:00 +0000

As per January 1st, 2009, TAFS welcomes Mr. Hans-Jürgen Matern of MGB Metro, Düsseldorf, Germany, as its latest member.

Mr. Matern is Division Manager Quality Assurance at MGB Metro.

Welcome!

New website of OIE reference laboratory for paratuberculosis

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:29:00 +0000

If you are interested in paratuberculosis, you will either know already or find it good to know now that the Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czech Republic, opened new web pages of the OIE reference laboratory for paratuberculosis.

In particular the weekly updated list of publications on paratuberculosis/Johne's disease will be very useful for the community.

Source: Centaur news flash information

New form of 'mad cow' disease could infect humans

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:53:00 +0000

13 September 2008
From New Scientist Print Edition.
Andy Coghlan

JUST when it looked as if we had mad cow disease licked, a new threat may be lurking down on the farm - bovine amyloidic spongiform encephalopathy. First discovered in Italian cows in 2003, BASE has infected a monkey, suggesting that the disease may also be capable of spreading to humans.

Alarmingly, the disease took hold - and killed - the monkey faster than strains of classical BSE and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human version of mad cow disease, injected into other monkeys as part of the same experiment. What's more, the symptoms and brain damage look very like a rare form of "sporadic" vCJD, called MM2, which has no known cause, raising the prospect that BASE may already infect people.

Emmanuel Comoy of the Institute of Emerging Diseases and Innovative Therapies in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, and his colleagues made the discovery after injecting brain material from an Italian cow with BASE into the monkey's brain. After 26 months, it was dead (PLoS ONE, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003017).

The monkey's symptoms were different from those of other monkeys injected with human vCJD or classical BSE, and from people and cows with these diseases, whose cerebellum and brain stem are damaged. Instead of becoming aggressive and losing their appetite and ability to move, both the cow and the monkey with BASE lost their memories and the ability to orientate. This fits with damage to the cortex. "It's as if they're lost," says Comoy. Significantly, humans with MM2 have similar symptoms and patterns of brain damage.

"We have here an atypical cattle strain of BSE that's clearly transmissible to primates, that's more easily transmissible than classical BSE, and which causes a different disease," says Comoy.
“We have a strain of BSE that's more easily transmissible than classical BSE and which causes a different disease”.

He is now trying to find out if MM2 and BASE are the same disease by injecting mice with material from people infected with MM2, BASE cows and the dead monkey. He is also exploring whether monkeys can catch BASE by eating infected brain from cows, just as people contracted vCJD by eating beef contaminated with brain material from BSE-infected cows. "We're four years into the eating trial, and the animals remain healthy, but we can't be complacent as monkeys take five years to succumb to infection with classical BSE," says Comoy.

"It's entirely possible that some diseases we think are spontaneous CJD are actually caused by BASE, but it's by no means proven," says Chris Higgins, chairman of the UK government's Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee.

Even if MM2 turns out be the human form of BASE, Higgins says, the "health implications are minimal", because the disease is so rare in cows and infective material remains banned from consumption. But Comoy says that the discovery should temper any temptation to ever relax screening for BSE.

New Efsa TSE risk assessment on young sheep and goat

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:32:00 +0000

The European Food Safety Agency has published a new risk assessment from carcasses of ovine and caprine animals below 6 months of age from TSE infected flocks intended for human consumption, as well as a corresponding press release.

Source: Efsa web site.

A Novel Human Disease with Abnormal Prion Protein Sensitive to Protease

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:03:00 +0000

Ten people die from new CJD-like disease
09 July 2008
From New Scientist Print Edition.
Andy Coghlan

A NEW form of fatal dementia has been discovered in 16 Americans, 10 of whom have already died of the condition. It resembles Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - with patients gradually losing their ability to think, speak and move - but has features that make it distinct from known forms of CJD.

No one yet knows how the disease originates, or under what conditions it might spread. Nor is it clear how many people have the condition. "I believe the disease has been around for many years, unnoticed," says Pierluigi Gambetti, director of the US National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Cases may previously have been mistaken for other forms of dementia.

Since Gambetti's team wrote a paper describing an initial 11 cases referred to his centre between 2002 and 2006 (Annals of Neurology, vol 63, p 697), another five have come to light. "So it is possible that it could be just the tip of the iceberg," Gambetti says.
As in other spongiform encephalopathies, such as CJD and mad cow disease (BSE), the brain tissue of victims is full of tiny holes. This damage is thought to be caused by the accumulation of prions, misfolded versions of a brain protein called PrP that can convert normal PrP molecules into their own misshapen form.

Some features of the new disease are different, however. All known disease-causing prions resist degradation by proteases - enzymes which digest the normal form of PrP. But prions from patients with the new disease are broken down by the enzymes.

Some very rare forms of CJD run in families and are caused by mutations in the gene for PrP. Six of the cases described in Gambetti's paper were from families with a history of dementia, suggesting a genetic cause. However, these people had no mutations in their PrP genes. "Maybe there are other genes that have an influence on the disease," suggests James Ironside of the UK's National CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh.

Most forms of CJD develop spontaneously, for unknown reasons, but can be spread if someone is exposed to brain material from people with CJD, for instance, by neurosurgery using inadequately sterilised instruments.
One variant of CJD has been linked to the consumption of contaminated meat from cattle with mad cow disease. If the new condition is similarly caused by something in the victims' diet, or another environmental cause, new measures might be needed to protect public health.
Gambetti is now conducting experiments in mice to see how the disease is transmitted. He suspects that there is no cause for alarm. "I believe the disease occurs naturally, and is not due to environmental causes," he says.

From issue 2664 of New Scientist magazine, 09 July 2008, page 13

See also the original article and a corresponding editorial comment.

Even vegetarians may not be safe from 'mad cow' prions

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:56:00 +0000

10:34 26 June 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Ewen Callaway

Fancy a dose of prions with your vegetables? A new study suggests that infectious prions - thought to be the causative agents in mad cow disease and human vCJD – can survive wastewater decontamination and wind up in fertiliser, potentially contaminating fruit and vegetables.
The prions would be present in such low quantities that they are unlikely to pose a health threat, but as a precaution, "we should prevent the entry of prions into wastewater treatment plants," says microbiologist Joel Pedersen, of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, US, who led the research.
Prions could end up in wastewater treatment plants via slaughterhouse drains, hunted game cleaned in a sink, or humans with vCJD shedding prions in their urine or faeces, Pedersen says.
Landfill risk
Previous studies have suggested that prions can survive heat treatment and caustic chemicals, but to see how prions fare during sewage treatment, Pendersen's team spiked sludge from a local treatment plant with infectious prions, and then subjected the toxic brew to a typical wastewater treatment regimen.
This typically involves three weeks of filtration, separation and incubation with microbes that break down contaminants in the sludge, resulting in clean water and "biosolids" free of most human pathogens, which can be used as a fertiliser.
When Pedersen's team tested the sewage soup at various stages, they found the water was clean, but the biosolids were contaminated with prions.
"The sludge digestion seems to have no effect on the prion protein," he says.
Prions from culled livestock could also lurk in landfills, says Pederson, whose team is testing whether prions survive in dumps. Recent mad cow disease scares in Britain, Canada, and the US resulted in culls of thousands of potentially tainted animals, and many ended up underground.
Journal reference: Environmental Science & Technology (DOI: 10.1021/es703186e)

Organic pigs breed more bad bugs

noreply@blogger.com (Ulrich Sperling) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:48:00 +0000

24 June 2008
From New Scientist Print Edition.

Animals reared in natural, outdoor conditions without nasty modern drugs yield healthier meat, right? Not necessarily.
Wondwossen Gebreyes and colleagues at Ohio State University in Columbus tested US pigs for antibodies - telltale signs of infection - to pathogens that can also affect humans. They found traces of Salmonella in 39 per cent of pigs raised in standard indoor pens and routinely given antibiotics, but in 54 per cent of organic pigs raised outdoors without the drugs (Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, vol 5, p 199).
This poses a dilemma, says Gebreyes: giving pigs routine antibiotics favours antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but not giving them drugs means more animals carry Salmonella, which causes a million cases of food poisoning a year in the US alone.
They also found traces of the parasite Toxoplasma, carried by cats and other animals, in 1 per cent of conventional pigs but 7 per cent of free-range animals. The parasite can damage developing fetuses.
Worse, the US team found two organic pigs with signs of infection with Trichinella, a roundworm that can cause chronic disease and even kill when people eat undercooked pork. Trichinella is nearly eradicated in livestock in the the US and Europe, though it persists in wildlife. Finding it in two pigs of the 600 tested is 23 times its average frequency in US pigs.
"Does having an antibiotic-free and animal-friendly environment cause the re-emergence of historically significant pathogens?" Gebreyes asks. "That is an extremely important question for consumers, policy-makers and researchers."

From issue 2661 of New Scientist magazine, 24 June 2008, page 6