FDA bans cattle materials from supplements
banned the use of certain cattle-derived materials in an effort to
close all possible remaining avenues of human infection from mad
cow disease.
The FDA has ruled that food manufacturers must no longer use materials such as the brain, skull, eyes and spinal cord in products for human consumption, including cosmetics and dietary supplements. The ban affects products made from animals of 30 months or older.
"Today's actions continue our strong commitment to public health protections against BSE," said Tommy Thompson, health and human services secretary.
The action puts the agency's restrictions in line with those issued by the Agriculture Department to keep these cattle parts out of meat after the brain-wasting disease was found in December in a Holstein cow in the state of Washington.
The FDA directed manufacturers and processors that use prohibited cattle parts to immediately switch to alternative ingredients. However, the supplements industry was keen to stress that there was already minimal risk of contamination as it has had strict safeguards in place for the past decade. Indeed, the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA) have all been working closely with the FDA since BSE was first detected in the UK in 1986.
"Cattle-derived materials are rarely used in dietary supplements and it is unlikely that any products will have to be removed from sale," said a spokesperson for the NNFA. "With the safety measures already in place and the fact that products that could have contained prohibited materials comprise a minute portion of all industry sales, the impact of this decision on the supplements industry should be limited."
Mad cow disease is also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. People who eat meat containing the misshapen proteins, known as prions, face a risk of contracting a rare but fatal human condition known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
