BSE stands for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy.  The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published two rules which prohibit the use of most mammalian protein in the manufacturing of animal feeds intended for ruminants (cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, elk, and deer).  These proteins are commonly referred to as “prohibited materials.” However, some mammalian proteins are exempted and classified as “nonprohibited materials.” Such proteins may be fed to ruminants and may include blood and blood products, milk and milk products, tallow, etc.  In support of this regulation, the laboratory has created a testing program that monitors animal feeds for the presence of prohibited materials (meat-and-bone meal, meat meal, bone meal, hydrolyzed hair, etc.).  All ruminant feeds are screened utilizing real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Funding for this testing comes from the Kansas Feed Safety/Ruminant Feed Ban Support Project, a five-year, $1.1 million cooperative agreement with FDA awarded in 2010.  In additional to the prohibited materials testing, several special projects related to feed safety are being completed.  These projects are looking at feed mixer clean-out/carry-over, Salmonella direct human contact, mycotoxins, and drug residues.  The cooperative agreement is a joint effort between the Agricultural Laboratory and the Agricultural Commodities Assurance program (ACAP).  Additional information regarding BSE and the FDA's efforts to control it can be found here.