Specified risk material (SRM) is any of various tissues of

ruminant Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microb ...

animals that cannot be inspected and passed for human food because scientists have determined that bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( BSE)-causing prions concentrate there, representing a biological food safety hazard to consumers. The term was referred to in the United Kingdom's Specified Risk Material Order 1997 ( S.I. 1997/2964), in the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

's, and in the

Canadian Food Inspection Agency The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; ) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The age ...

's regulatory response to the first confirmed U.S. BSE case in December 2003.CRS Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition - Order Code 97-905

BSE

The BSE infective agent has been found to concentrate in specific tissues of BSE-infected cattle.

BSE SRMs

SRMs can include brains, eyes, spinal cord, and other organs; the exact definition varies by jurisdiction. Under the US regulations, SRMs are defined as: the

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

, trigeminal ganglia (nerves attached to brain and close to the skull exterior), eyes,

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

, vertebral column (excluding the vertebrae of the tail, the transverse processes of the

lumbar In tetrapod anatomy, lumbar is an adjective that means of or pertaining to the abdominal segment of the torso, between the diaphragm (anatomy), diaphragm and the sacrum. Naming and location The lumbar region is sometimes referred to as the lowe ...

and

thoracic vertebrae In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebra (anatomy), vertebrae of intermediate size between the ce ...

, and the wings of the

sacrum The sacrum (: sacra or sacrums), in human anatomy, is a triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part of the pelvic cavity, ...

), the

dorsal root ganglia A dorsal root ganglion (or spinal ganglion; also known as a posterior root ganglion) is a cluster of neurons (a ganglion) in a dorsal root of a spinal nerve. The cell bodies of sensory neurons known as first-order neurons are located in the dors ...

(nerves attached to the spinal cord and close to the

vertebral column The spinal column, also known as the vertebral column, spine or backbone, is the core part of the axial skeleton in vertebrates. The vertebral column is the defining and eponymous characteristic of the vertebrate. The spinal column is a segmente ...

, which is removed to be certain the dorsal root ganglia is extracted in its entirety) of cattle aged 30 months or older; and the tonsils and distal

ileum The ileum () is the final section of the small intestine in most higher vertebrates, including mammals, reptiles, and birds. In fish, the divisions of the small intestine are not as clear and the terms posterior intestine or distal intestine may ...

(a part of the

small intestine The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...

) of all cattle. On January 12, 2004, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...

published new rules banning such materials from the human food supply. In the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, SRMs are also excluded by law from the human and animal food chain. Most countries in the Americas (including the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

) and Europe are officially recognized by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) as having a negligible BSE risk status.

Removal of BSE SRMs

The

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

of the United Nations (FAO),

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO), and WOAH have jointly established recommendations for SRM removal based on the level of risk.World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, & World Organization for Animal Health (2001). Joint WHO/FAO/OIR technical consultation on BSE: Conclusions and key recommendations. https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2021/03/en-bse-who-fao-oie.pdf All SRMs must be removed at slaughter and disposed as inedible material.

References

{{Reflist Meat industry Cattle Food safety Prions

BSE

BSE SRMs

Removal of BSE SRMs

See also

References