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Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Risk Assessment on Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy in Cattle in Canada
Part B: BSE Surveillance and Related Activities
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6. COMPENSATION
Since 1945, Canadian legislation has provided compensation to livestock
producers whose herds or flocks are infected by contagious disease and are
ordered destroyed to limit the risk to other animals and humans. Compensation
maximums for animals destroyed (including confirmed cases, suspects, and
at-risk animals) were legislated in 1992 under the authority of the Health
of Animals Act. The compensation paid to an owner for each animal ordered
destroyed is the assessed market value of the animal, not exceeding the
compensation maximum for that species. Regulations establishing compensation
maximums for each animal species came into effect in 1994. Under the
Maximum Amounts for Destroyed Animals Regulations in 1994, the
compensation maximum awarded for cattle was $2,000 for a registered animal and
$1,500 for a non-registered animal. In February 1998, amendments were made to
compensate for disposal costs. In accordance with the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency Act (1997), compensation payments are paid through the
Consolidated Revenue Fund. In 1998, the compensation maximum for cattle was
increased to $2,500 for both registered and non-registered animals. The
compensation program is an important incentive that encourages reporting of
disease and aids control and eradication efforts.
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7. ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION
Canada instituted a national identification program for cattle and bison on
January 1, 2001 (Sanford et al. 2001), managed by the Canadian Cattle
Identification Agency (CCIA), a non-profit agency. The program provides
individual animal identification and herd-of-origin trace-back. All cattle are
individually identified with an approved CCIA ear tag (CCIA 2002) (see Appendix 5). The CCIA and the CFIA work together
to achieve effective control of animal disease risks associated with food-borne
illnesses.
The program is mandated under the Health of Animals Regulations. As
of January 1, 2001, cattle leaving the herds in which they were born must be
identified with an approved eartag. As of July 1, 2001, cattle leaving all
premises, whether born on them or not, must be so identified.
How the program works:
The program requires that every bovine animal be identified with an official
tag before leaving the herd of origin or co-mingling with cattle of other
owners. An exception is provided for cattle that are sent temporarily to a
community pasture, bull test station or agricultural fair, then return home. An
exception is also provided to allow unidentified cattle to be sent to
facilities approved by the CCIA as an approved tagging site where the cattle
may be identified with the producer’s official tags. The responsibility of
the producer of the herd of origin is to buy the official tag and apply it to
the animal prior to departure from the herd. No time frame for tagging is
established as long as the animal does not leave the herd of origin untagged.
Producers are not required to maintain their own records for initial tagging,
although many producers prefer to use the official ID number for their own
management records. Approved official ID tags are available to producers from
approved manufacturers directly or through authorized service centres and
distributors. The service centres and distributors are responsible for
reporting to the CCIA database the numbers of the tags purchased by producers
so that producers need not assume the responsibility of recording or reporting.
Official ID tags bear, as a minimum, a unique ID number, an official logo and a
bar code to facilitate automated reading in places such as abattoirs.
The program also prohibits acceptance of non-tagged cattle (except where it
can be shown that the official identification was lost during transportation,
and the new owner must apply a new tag and record the source of the animal). In
the case of an animal that loses its official identification during
transportation to the abattoir, the animal need not be re-identified provided
it is slaughtered immediately.
No one may remove an official tag or transfer tags from one animal to
another. The manufacture and marketing of tags outside CCIA control is
prohibited.
Abattoir operators are required to maintain the official identification of
the live animal through to the completion of the meat inspection process, so
that any disease detected upon post-mortem inspection can be traced to the herd
of origin. Abattoir operators are also required to transmit the identification
numbers of slaughtered cattle to the CCIA database. When no health or safety
issue is associated with the animal or the carcass, the number is retired from
the database. If a disease or safety issue is associated with the animal or the
carcass, the CFIA is provided with information on the origin of the animal in
order to start its epidemiological investigation for the containment and
elimination of the problem. If an identified animal dies on the farm or ranch,
the producer is required to keep a record of the number but does not have to
report it in the database. Renderers, however, are required to report official
tag numbers to the CCIA database.
All imported cattle not destined for immediate slaughter must be identified
with an official tag of the country of origin prior to importation. These
cattle must be re-identified by the importer with an official Canadian tag upon
arrival in Canada and the numbers reported to the CCIA database.
Cattle imported for immediate slaughter from the U.S. may be imported
without official identification as to country of origin provided the truck is
sealed and is directed to a slaughter plant, where they must be segregated from
Canadian cattle.
At present, all Canadian feeder cattle/calves and breeding cattle that are
exported must bear an official identification and be accompanied by an export
certificate. Such cattle are subject to CFIA inspection at the border. In
future, the CFIA will read the tag in the animals’s ear and record the
number on the export certificate rather than applying an official tag at the
time of export, and the number will be recorded to account for disposition of
these cattle in the database. Alternative means to reading the numbers at the
time of exportation will be explored in future.
Compliance and Enforcement:
The animal identification legislation was introduced gradually, over an
18-month period, beginning with an initial information and education campaign
to heighten awareness in the cattle and bison sectors regarding the
program’s implementation (see Appendix
5). Passive enforcement during this period ensured that the primary
producers became fully aware of the program and the practical aspects of
compliance. Full implementation, with active enforcement, began as of July 1,
2002. From this date, as per the enabling legislation, the CFIA has issued
applied monetary penalties (AMPS) for violations of the Health of Animals
Regulations pertaining to animal identification.
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8. EDUCATION AND AWARENESS PROGRAMS AND TRAINING
8.1. Education and Awareness Programs
The CFIA provides ongoing education to government and private veterinarians,
provincial, federal and university diagnosticians, farmers, and workers
involved in the livestock industry through a number of activities, examples of
which are listed below in relation to veterinarians and producers (see Appendix 6).
Target: Veterinarians
-
An article on BSE appeared in the Canadian Veterinary
Journal in 1989 (Little and Thorsen 1989).
-
A videotape showing the clinical signs of BSE was acquired from
the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) in the U.K., and has
been available since 1998.
-
A BSE fact sheet was first published on the CFIA website in 1998
(CFIA 2002).
-
Lectures about BSE are part of the curriculum for veterinary
students, covered in regulatory veterinary medicine lectures given by CFIA
veterinarians and/or in lectures on neurologic diseases.
-
Provincial veterinary medical associations have included
presentations on BSE at annual conferences and BSE information in provincial
publications. For example, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA)
had presentations on BSE at its annual conferences in 1991, 1995, 1997 and
2001. The January 2002 Alberta Veterinary Medical Association annual conference
also included a lengthy presentation on BSE.
-
The Agri-Food Surveillance Systems Branch (AFSSB), Food Safety
Division (FSD) of Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AAFRD) (and
the former Animal Health Laboratories Branch) has focussed education and
awareness activities on Alberta's veterinarians. Information has been
delivered to veterinarians via periodic publications in the Alberta Veterinary
Medical Association's members' magazine; articles in newsletters (Food
Safety Division's Animal Health Forum and the newsletters of the Western
Association of Bovine Practitioners and the Alberta Sheep and Wool Commission);
Food Safety Division TSE seminars; a BSE surveillance information mail-out to
Alberta veterinarians in June 2001; and instructions related to BSE
surveillance program design at the Second Food Safety Division Applied
Epidemiology and Surveillance Course for Animal Health and Food Safety
Professionals (Oct. 25–26, 2001). Information on BSE is also found on the
AAFRD website (
www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/app21/rtw/index.jsp).
-
OMAFRA’s Veterinary Science publication, Ceptor,
has included a number of articles on BSE surveillance. Information on BSE is
also available on OMAFRA’s website (www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA).
- The Canadian Animal Health Consultative Committee (CAHCC) has been meeting
annually for the past 20 years to discuss and consult on a broad range of
animal health issues. BSE has been discussed at the meeting since 1993. This
meeting is hosted by the Animal Health and Production Division of the Animal
Products Directorate of the CFIA. The CAHCC forum provides for communication,
consultation and co-ordination between the CFIA, its provincial partners, and
regulated animal industries, and provides for the review, development and
implementation of animal health policies and programs with the goal of
promoting the long-term sustainability of Canada's animal industries. The
CAHCC is made up of representatives from national industry groups, federal and
provincial animal health authorities, the federal department of health (Health
Canada), national animal health and welfare organizations, as well as
university representatives and invited guests such as the United States
Department of Agriculture and Mexico’s department of agriculture, the
Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganaderia y Desarrollo Rural.
Target: Producers
-
A fact sheet on BSE was published by Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada (AAFC) (Animal health was the responsibility of AAFC prior to the
development of the CFIA) in 1996.
-
A BSE fact sheet was first published on the CFIA website in 1998
(CFIA 2002).
-
Extension staff from the provincial departments of agriculture
play a role in disseminating information on BSE.
-
Producers and industry groups receive information at the annual
CAHCC meeting (see above). Examples of the producer and industry groups that
are members of the CAHCC are Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Canadian
Beef Breeds Council, Canadian Dairy Breeds, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Holstein
Canada, Canadian Livestock Genetics Association, Canadian Embryo Transfer
Association, La Fédération des producteurs de bovins du Québec,
Alberta Cattle Feeders Association, Ontario Cattlemen’s Association,
British Columbia Association of Cattle Feeders, The Semex Alliance, Canadian
Sheep Federation, Canadian Sheep Breeders Association, Canadian Dairy Sheep
Association, Canadian Goat Society, Canadian Boer Goat Society, Canadian Bison
Association, Canadian Cervid Council, Alberta Whitetail and Mule Deer
Association, Canadian Alpaca Breeders Association, Canadian Llama Association
and the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
-
Producer groups have also published information on BSE. One of
the largest producer groups is the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA),
which is a national association representing the interests of Canada’s
100,000 beef producers in Canada. The CCA has extensive information about BSE
on its website (www.cattle.ca), and the CCA also publishes a monthly magazine.
-
Education was presented on BSE in 2001 and 2002 at NCFAD/CFIA
Winnipeg for cattle producers and cattle associations, including the Canadian
Cattlemen’s Association.
8.2. Training
When:
- Since 1989 for federal staff, and in 1994, 1997, 2001, and 2002 for field
staff, provincial and university staff.
Place:
Measures:
-
Two lecture series and workshops on TSEs and tissue collection
techniques were held at the ADRI, Ottawa, Ontario, in March and May of 1997.
Participants included veterinarians from both federal and provincial
departments of agriculture and were selected by each region to act as regional
trainers in brain collection techniques for all TSE diseases affecting
livestock. The participants of these workshops were required to submit brain
samples to ADRI, Ottawa, for evaluation and assessment. The participant list
and an example of sample evaluation are included in Appendix 7.
-
Two similar training courses were held in 2000, one for CFIA
diagnosticians and one for provincial and university diagnosticians. The course
agenda and participant list for the two courses are included in Appendix 7.
Similar to the 1997 course, the objective of the course was to train
participants in tissue collection techniques and to have participants be able
to train other personnel in the sampling technique.
-
Field staff are also trained on site (e.g. at abattoirs). The
workshops on TSEs and tissue collection techniques were a venue for the
preparation of “trainers.” These trainers are then available to train
additional field staff on site.
-
Sample collection training (spatula technique) and lectures on
TSEs have been included in the annual Foreign Animal Disease Recognition Course
provided by NCFAD/CFIA, Winnipeg, in close cooperation with the National BSE
Reference Laboratory.
-
A training video (CFIA 2001c) entitled Brain Tissue
Collection Techniques for BSE Surveillance Programs is available and has
been distributed to CFIA training officers and provincial participants in the
training courses. OMAFRA has also requested copies and included them as part of
their CWD surveillance packages. This video is an update of a video done in
1997 entitled Brain Tissue Collection Technique Using the Spatula
Technique.
-
A national work-site training program on sample collection was
delivered in June 2002.
SUMMARY - SURVEILLANCE
Regulations and Policies for Surveillance
- The CFIA collaborates with provincial governments and universities to
deliver a BSE surveillance program in accordance with OIE standards.
- In 1990, BSE was made a reportable disease in Canada. In 1991, the CFIA
established a monitoring program for animals imported from the U.K. before the
1989 ban. In 1992, the CFIA implemented the BSE Surveillance Program.
BSE Surveillance Program
- Under the current program, the target population for BSE surveillance
includes all mature animals that present with clinical signs compatible with
BSE, as well as rabies-negative neurological cases. The program also targets
animals greater than two years of age from risk populations, including
neurological cases, downers, emergency slaughter and animals found dead.
- Cattle that have consumed ruminant meat-and-bone meal (MBM) present the
greatest risk, if BSE were present in Canada. Based on husbandry practices,
dairy cattle are more likely to have consumed MBM than other classes of cattle.
This population is more likely to be sampled through the provincial than
federal government programs, highlighting the importance of provincial
participation.
- As of September 2002, 9,101 bovine samples have been tested for BSE,
consistently exceeding the annual maximum level of sampling required by the OIE
since 1993, with one exception — 1995.
- All samples have been tested by histopathology and a percentage by IHC. By
the end of 2002, as more provincial laboratories acquire IHC capabilities, it
is expected that more than 90% of the samples will be tested by this
method.
Compensation, Identification and Education
- Since 1945, the federal government has provided compensation to livestock
producers whose animals are ordered destroyed as a result of disease. This is
an important incentive to the reporting of disease by producers.
- In January 2001, Canada instituted a National Cattle Identification
Program, managed by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency. This program
provides individual identification for all cattle, and allows herd-of-origin
trace-back.
- The CFIA provides extensive ongoing education on BSE to government and
private veterinarians, provincial, federal and university diagnosticians,
producers, and workers involved in the livestock industry.
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REFERENCES
Canadian Animal Health Network (CAHNet) (2001). Website: www.cahnet.org
Canadian Animal Health Network (CAHNet) (2001a). CCIA announces first
tracebacks using identification program. CAHNet Bulletin, Fall 2001, edition 6,
p25.
Canadian Cattle Identification Program (CCIA) (2002). Website:
www.cattle.ca/ccia
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (2001). Video entitled Brain Tissue
Collection Techniques for BSE Surveillance Program. Produced by the
Professional and Technical Development Division of the CFIA in March 2001,
11:03 minutes.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) (2002). Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy. www.inspection.gc.ca/english/sci/ahra/bseris/bseesbe.shtml
Czub, S. (2002). National Diagnostic BSE Reference Laboratory for BSE,
National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, CFIA. Personal communication.
European Commission (EC) (2001). Opinion on requirements for statistically
authoritative BSE/TSE Surveys. Health and Consumer Protection
Directorate-General, Directorate C - Scientific Opinions, C1 Follow-up and
dissemination of scientific opinions. TSE/BSE ad hoc Working Group for the
Scientific Steering Committee, adopted November 29–30, 2001, 39 pp.
Greenwood, P. (2001). Disease Control Section. Animal Health and Production
Division. CFIA. Personal communication.
Little, P.B., Thorsen, J. (1989). Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy.
Canadian Veterinary Journal. 30: 712–714.
Office International des Épizooties (OIE) (2001). International Animal
Health Code. Appendix 3.8.3 Surveillance and monitoring systems for bovine
spongiform encephalopathy.
Rogers, R. (2002). Health Canada (Formerly: Disease Control Section. Animal
Health and Production Division, CFIA.) Personal communication, March.
Sanford, K., Stitt, J., Kellar, J.A., McAllister, T.A. (2001). Traceability
in cattle and small ruminants in Canada. Revue Scientifique et
Technique 20(2): 510–522.
Introduction | Regulatory framework | BSE surveillance program | Surveillance statistics | Diagnostics | Compensation | Animal identification | Education and awareness programs and training | References
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