Brazil’s risk of “mad cow disease” is negligible – OIE

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Monday (6) maintained Brazil’s status as a country with a “negligible risk ” for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease.

The decision was announced two days after the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the emergence of two cases in Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso, of “atypical origin,” in which the cause is a mutation in a single animal rather than through contamination between two or more cattle.

With the report in hand, the Ministry of Agriculture notified Brazilian beef importing countries and suspended shipments of the product to China. With the OIE’s position, the Chinese are expected to resume their orders from Brazil soon.

“Therefore, given the results obtained, these cases were closed because they do not represent a risk to the beef production chain in the country,” the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement released Monday afternoon.

According to the Ministry, the animals were affected in an independent and isolated way. The cases were confirmed last Friday by the OIE’s international reference laboratory in Canada. However, only on Saturday, after the Chinese authorities had been previously notified, the news was released to the public.

In the note, the government stresses that Brazil, by maintaining its classification as a country of negligible risk for the disease, does not pose any danger in exporting beef. According to the Ministry, this demonstrates that there is no justification for “any impact on the trade of animals, their products and by-products.”