WRITTEN QUESTION E-3746/00

by Marit Paulsen (ELDR) and Karl Olsson (ELDR) to the Commission

(4 December 2000)

Subject: TSE in pigs

What do we actually know about prions, the agents which pass on TSE and Creutzfeld-Jacobs disease? No-one knows exactly how this protein becomes a hazard but we do know that it does.

The disease is spread via feedstuffs and food and the incubation period can extend over several years. Contagious prions have already crossed two species barriers, from sheep to cattle and from cattle to humans. We have also known for more than ten years that prions enter the food chain via meal containing animal remains.

Pigs are fed the same type of foodstuffs as cattle and have the same digestive system as humans. The reason pigs have so far not demonstrated TSE symptoms might well be that they do not live long enough for the disease to develop.

Can the Commission therefore exclude the possibility that pigs might be carriers of TSE?

If not, when does the Commission intend to propose that TSE tests are also carried out on pigmeat?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(7 February 2001)

The Commission, in matters related to health and consumer protection, bases its risk management measures on the most recent available evidence and sound scientific advice. This advice is provided in the form of scientific opinions adopted by the scientific steering committee (SSC). The SSC itself is assisted by the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy/bovine spongiform encephalopathy (TSE/BSE) ad hoc Group composed of Europe's leading scientists in the field of TSEs. All the SSC's reports and opinions are publicly available on the Internet site of the Health and Consumer Directorate General.

Limitations of knowledge in the field of TSEs, including the species barrier, are listed and discussed in:

- the scientific opinion on Oral exposure of humans to the BSE agent: infective dose and species barrier. Adopted by the scientific steering committee at its meeting of 13-14 April 2000, following a public consultation via Internet between 6 and 27 March 2000.

- Updated Scientific Report on the Safety of meat-and-bone meal derived from mammalian animals fed to non-ruminant food-producing farm animals. Scientific steering committee, meeting of 24-25 September 1998.

The issue of TSEs in pigs to which the Honourable Members refers, is addressed in two reports and three opinions of the SSC:

- the scientific opinion on Fallen stock, addressing the risks of non conventional transmissible agents, conventional infectious agents or other hazards such as toxic substances entering the human food or animal feed chains via raw material from fallen stock and dead animals (including also: ruminants, pigs, poultry, fish, wild/exotic/zoo animals, fur animals, cats, laboratory animals and fish) or via condemned materials. Adopted by the scientific steering committee at its meeting of 24-25 June 1999.

- the scientific report on Fallen stock addressing the above issues in detail. Submitted to the scientific steering committee at its meeting of 24-25 June 1999.

- the scientific opinion on the risk born by recycling animal by-products as feed with regard to propagating TSE in non-ruminant farmed animals. Adopted by the SSC on 17 September 1999.

- the scientific report on the Risk Borne by Recycling Animal By-Products as Feed with Regard to Propagating TSE's in Non-ruminant Farmed Animals. Prepared by a working group for the scientific steering committee as an input into the elaboration of the opinion on the same subject adopted on 16-17 September 1999.

- the scientific opinion on the scientific basis for import bans proposed by 3 Member States with regard to BSE risks in France and the Republic of Ireland; on the scientific basis for several measures proposed by France with regard to BSE risks; and on the scientific basis for banning animal protein from the feed for all farmed animals, including pig, poultry, fish and pet animals. Adopted by the scientific steering committee at its meeting of 27-28 November 2000.

With regard to the questions posed by the Honourable Members, these reports and opinions can be summarised as follows: (mldr) there is no epidemiological evidence that pigs, poultry or fish are susceptible to BSE or that BSE has moved into these species. So far there is no scientific evidence of the occurrence of TSE in farmed pigs, poultry and fish. Only pigs have been found to be susceptible to intra-cerebral challenge under experimental conditions. Also the hypothesis that pigs, poultry or fish do act, after oral challenge, as healthy carriers of TSE-agents is not supported by the limited experimental data available. [Extract from the opinion adopted on 27-28 November 2000.]

The Commission therefore at this stage sees no justification in proposing TSE tests to be carried out on pig meat. In this context it also needs to be stressed that currently no tests are available either for pigs or for meat in general including cattle meat. As far as farmed animals for human consumption are concerned, the only operational tests that are available have been developed and evaluated to be used on central nervous tissue (brain and spinal cord) of ruminants.