How Did a Foodborne Disease Impact European Policies?
In November 1986, the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy - BSE - is first identified by the UK's Central Veterinary Laboratory. Vets and scientists are puzzled. They conclude BSE is a "prion" disease like scrapie and suggest it could have been caused by infected animal carcasses or offal processed into cattle feed. 2 years later, the British government sets up the Southwood Working Party to look into concerns that BSE is entering the human food chain. A ban on the use of meat and bone meal feed is brought in along with a slaughter policy for all affected cattle. The use of milk for human consumption from suspect cows is also banned. In 1992, the BSE cases peak occurs: 3 cows in every 1000 in Britain have the disease. In 1994 the use of animal protein in animal feed is banned throughout the EU - with the exception of Denmark. The European Commission allows beef-on-the-bone exports only from cattle certified to have come from holdings where there has been no sign of BSE in the previous 6 years.
In 1995, an English teenager becomes the first known victim of a new variant of Creutzfeld Jakobs disease (vCJD). At this stage government scientists reject a connection between vCJD and BSE. The government introduces tighter controls on farmers’ record keeping and prohibits the removal of brains and eyes and spinal cord in slaughterhouses. Plants processing bovine offal are ordered to do so in dedicated areas away from food production lines. On the 20th of March 1996, the government announces that a probable link between BSE and vCJD has been established. One week later the European Union bans all exports of British beef. A 30-month slaughter scheme is introduced in an effort to ensure that all cows over the age of 30 months at the time of slaughter do not enter the human food or animal feed chain. In June 1997, the government announces a new computerised cattle tracing system. New scientific research in September also identifies a link between BSE and the vCJD. In December the sale of beef on the bone is banned in the UK.
For most of people, this crisis was both foreseeable and preventable. Until the outbreak of the BSE crisis, many of the Community's rules relating to food safety regulation were mainly created on an ad hoc basis. The BSE crisis, however, clearly demonstrated that where important political interests are at stake, this ad hoc approach is not sufficient to guarantee an effective and legitimate food safety policy and decision-making free from manipulation and capture. Therefore, the Commission has drastically revised its food safety policy.
On the 12th of January 2000 the White Paper on Food Safety was published. Its strategic priorities are:
• to create a European Food Safety Authority: "an independent Authority, with particular responsibilities for both risk assessment and communication on food safety issues"
• to consistently implement a farm to table approach in food legislation: "The guiding principle throughout this White Paper is that food safety policy must be based on a comprehensive, integrated approach. This means throughout the food chain; across all food sectors; between the Member States; at the EU external frontier and within the EU (...)"
• to establish the principle that feed and food operators have primary responsibility for food safety: "The roles of all stakeholders in the food chain (...) must be clearly defined: feed manufacturers, farmers and food operators have the primary responsibility for food safety; competent authorities monitor and enforce this responsibility through the operation of national surveillance and control systems; and the Commission concentrates on evaluating the ability of competent authorities to deliver these systems through audits and inspections at the national level. Consumers must also recognise that they are responsible for the proper storage, handling and cooking of food."
On the 28th of January 2002 the European Food Safety Authority is established on the following food safety principles:
• Traceability of feed and food and their ingredients which include the obligation for feed and food businesses to ensure that adequate procedures are in place to withdraw feed and food from the market where a risk to the health of the consumer is posed.
• Risk analysis must form the foundation on which food safety policy is based. The EU must base its food policy on the application of the three components of risk analysis: risk assessment (scientific advice and information analysis) risk management (regulation and control) and risk communication.
• Where appropriate, the precautionary principle will be applied in risk management decisions.
Having regard to the experience over the last few years, the separation of risk assessment from risk management was largely agreed in order to insure a high degree of independence. Therefore, the tasks of the Authority embrace:
• Scientific advice (= risk assessment): "The scope of the Authority should be to provide scientific advice and information to the Commission on all matters having a direct or indirect impact on consumer health and safety arising from the consumption of food."
• Information gathering and analysis: "There is a pressing need to identify and use the information currently available throughout both the Community and world-wide on food safety issues."
• Communication: "The Authority will need to ensure that appropriate information is published, as part of its commitment to re-establishing consumer confidence."
Marie Edan
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