The Food Standards Agency announced today that meat from a cow aged over 72 months that had not been tested for BSE has entered the food chain. This is the second such oversight discovered in the past month; a negative BSE test result is mandatory for cattle slaughtered for human consumption.

The cow, aged 158 months and 22 days, was slaughtered at Rhinds of Elgin Ltd abattoir in Moray, Scotland, on 10th January 2012, though the error was not discovered until 28th February in the course of routine cross-checks of slaughter and BSE test data. Another 62 month old cow was discovered to have been slaughtered and had entered the food chain without the appropriate tests in Bristol in December last year, however, the mistake only came to light in late February.

An FSA spokesperson said “It is very unlikely that the cow was infected with BSE and, as specified risk material (SRM) was removed, any risk to human health is extremely low. SRM is the parts of cattle most likely to carry BSE infectivity.”

Nevertheless, according to BSE regulations, the untested cow, plus the one slaughtered before and the two after should not have entered the food supply. However, due to the delay in discovering the fault, the carcases had already passed into the food chain.

For the Moray cow, some frozen offal and meat products were located and destroyed after the oversight was discovered; however, subsequent investigation revealed that most of the rest of the meat from the four carcasses which should not have left the slaughterhouse had passed on and is likely to have been consumed.

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