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Subject area BSE
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is a bovine disease which affects the central nervous system and always ends fatally. The German translation (sponge-like brain disease in cattle) illustrates the effects on the brain of the infected animals.
Because of its transmissibility on the one hand and the highly specific changes in the brain on the other, BSE is ranked amongst the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE). They include diseases in humans like for instance Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and the Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker's syndrome (GSS).
According to the so-called prion hypothesis, BSE is caused by the infectious, wrongly folded form of an endogenous protein, the prion protein.
Even if the definitive evidence is still missing, scientists assume today that BSE is transmissible to man and that it triggers a new variant of the lethal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).
BfR (until 2002-10-31 BgVV) addresses the subject of BSE in conjunction with consumer health protection and examines how the transmission of the disease from animals to humans through food can be prevented. It has made a number of recommendations.
For further information see the German version of this page ("Themenkomplex BSE").
Opinion
(6)| Date | Title | Size |
|---|---|---|
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14.01.2013 BfR Opinion No. 001/2013
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Healthy cattle slaughtered above 8 years of age should continue to be tested for BSE in Germany |
49.9 KB
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02.12.2012 Joint opinion No 017/2016 of the BfR and FLI
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Protection against TSE: Specified risk material should continue to be removed from small ruminants and destroyed |
44.7 KB
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20.06.2012 BfR Opinion No. 023/2012
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Reassessment of feeding animal tallow to ruminants |
28.8 KB
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17.03.2008 Joint Opinion 030/2008 of BfR and the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI)
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FLI and BfR reject the intra-species recycling of feed fats in the case of ruminants |
28.5 KB
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12.09.2007 BfR Opinion No. 001/2008
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Raising the age limit for cattle for removal of the spinal cord without this leading to an elevated BSE risk for consumers |
27.9 KB
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13.02.2007 Joint Opinion No. 008/2007 of BfR and the Friedrich Loeffler Institute
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Ban on feeding ruminant fat to ruminants is to be upheld in Germany |
27.9 KB
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FAQ
(1)| Date | Title | Size |
|---|---|---|
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13.02.2013 BfR FAQ
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FAQs on changes to the BSE testing age for beef cattle |
58.7 KB
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Other documents
(3)Press releases
(4)| Date | Title | Keywords |
|---|---|---|
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02.04.2001 12/2001
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Contains no beef? - BgVV is on the trail of hidden food ingredients | |
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05.03.2001 11/2001
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BgVV again calls on industry to take all the effective steps to protect consumers from BSE | |
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17.01.2001 03/2001
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BgVV: Further measures needed to reduce BSE risk | |
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10.01.2001 02/2001
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Avoid the contamination of meat with BSE pathogens during slaughtering! |
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