BSE Crisis Research Articles

Green entrepreneurship in UK foods and the emergence of the alternative meat sector: Quorn 1965–2006

The pioneer in alternative proteins was the British company Marlow Foods, which created the world’s first mycoprotein product under the Quorn brand name. This article explores its emergence and development between 1965 and 2006. This case study supports three of the broad premises in the existing literature on business history of green entrepreneurship; that green innovation typically takes longer than non-green, is therefore more costly, and that green entrepreneurs are typically values- not profit-driven. The article then explores these premises and their consequences in the case of Quorn. With the long period between its inception and market acceptance in the 1990s, there was a significant continuity gap in Quorn’s environmental credentials. Quorn bridged that gap because of a sustained commitment to environmentalism that came via the legacy of its very influential founder. But it was the BSE crisis that permitted the product to move from vegetarian niche to the mainstream.

Out of sight, out of mind? BSE 30 years on: continuing environmental risks to human health

Thirty years after the BSE crisis, new research has confirmed that prions can persist in the environment in many forms and can be transported by many different intermediate vectors. We review the research on prion persistence and on attempts to develop methods for reducing infectivity. In some locations, previously BSE-contaminated land is proposed for development. Knowledge of the potential risks of prions to human health has declined since the publicity of the BSE epidemic in the 1990s and early 2000s, but there remains a real potential for infection at these sites. We discuss some possible uses of the sites and propose that all should require sealing off land to make as impermeable a barrier as possible between potential infectivity and humans. Risk assessment should be a mandatory part of any development proposals, but there are many unknown quantitative factors which limit the usefulness of such assessments.

The European Agri-Food Legislation and Trade Agreements in the Context of the covid-19 Crisis

Abstract This article performs an assessment of the EU Agri-food legislation in the context of the covid-19 crisis: new priorities into a new scenario. Taking the General Food Law as a focal point, this article analyses and explains the institutional, substantive, and procedural elements of EU food law and his intersection with International Trade Law. Principles are discussed as well as specific rules addressing food as a product, the processes related to food and communication about food to consumers. In fact, it is interesting to retrace the points of contact that food legislation shares with other legal disciplines since it is well known that the matter has a cross-cutting scope, i.e., from Agricultural Law to ip Law, from Criminal Law to International Trade Law. Although, the importance of food and related trade issues have always been regulated in times of emergency, as the bse crisis (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as “mad cow disease”) or during a worldwide pandemic (covid-19). However, until the publication of the Reg. 178/2002, it would have been impossible any given attempt to attribute the requisites of a coherent legal framework to the disordered, episodic, and often dictated by hot reactions of Food Law, understood as a system of rules ordered based on its own principles. Progress made by regulatory interventions that allows today to observe the matter under a different angle. In fact, attention is given to the international context (wto, Codex Alimentarius) as well as to the relationship with food trade policies and the current legal framework and regulatory provisions (such as those contained in Chapter i and ii) of Reg. 178/2002, the latter titled General Food Law.

The impact of COVID‐19 on the grains and oilseeds sector

While downstream distribution and demand is likely to be hampered by the labor and income effects of COVID‐19, Canada is expected to produce over 88 million tons of grains and oilseeds in 2020. Canadians have valid concerns about delays related to their changing needs as millions move their purchases from food services to retail groceries, but they should not worry about our overall supply of calories. Despite some shortages, the supply chains for flour and cooking oil are not likely to be blocked for an extended period. Learning from the coordinated needs of the BSE crisis in the beef sector, the federal government developed Value Chain Roundtables in 2003, including one for grains. These roundtables bring together government and industry to tackle the issues that face each sector's major needs, including food safety, transportation infrastructure, and market access. A working group made up of various roundtable members was set up specifically to deal with COVID‐19‐related supply chain challenges. This gives both industry and government a venue to attack any choke point or breakdown within our agrifood supply chains—the exact response we need at this time. A preestablished forum for discussion of critical issues at these roundtables, assuming the right players are active and present, cannot hurt, but it would useful for future planners and researchers if the federal government could clarify any positive impact they have.

Gangliosides: Treatment Avenues in Neurodegenerative Disease.

Gangliosides are cell membrane components, most abundantly in the central nervous system (CNS) where they exert among others neuro-protective and -restorative functions. Clinical development of ganglioside replacement therapy for several neurodegenerative diseases was impeded by the BSE crisis in Europe during the 1990s. Nowadays, gangliosides are produced bovine-free and new pre-clinical and clinical data justify a reevaluation of their therapeutic potential in neurodegenerative diseases. Clinical experience is greatest with monosialo-tetrahexosyl-ganglioside (GM1) in the treatment of stroke. Fourteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in overall >2,000 patients revealed no difference in survival, but consistently superior neurological outcomes vs. placebo. GM1 was shown to attenuate ischemic neuronal injuries in diabetes patients by suppression of ERK1/2 phosphorylation and reduction of stress to the endoplasmic reticulum. There is level-I evidence from 5 RCTs of a significantly faster recovery with GM1 vs. placebo in patients with acute and chronic spinal cord injury (SCI), disturbance of consciousness after subarachnoid hemorrhage, or craniocerebral injuries due to closed head trauma. In Parkinson's disease (PD), two RCTs provided evidence of GM1 to be superior to placebo in improving motor symptoms and long-term to result in a slower than expected symptom progression, suggesting disease-modifying potential. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), the role of gangliosides has been controversial, with some studies suggesting a “seeding” role for GM1 in amyloid β polymerization into toxic forms, and others more recently suggesting a rather protective role in vivo. In Huntington's disease (HD), no clinical trials have been conducted yet. However, low GM1 levels observed in HD cells were shown to increase cell susceptibility to apoptosis. Accordingly, treatment with GM1 increased survival of HD cells in vitro and consistently ameliorated pathological phenotypes in several murine HD models, with effects seen at molecular, cellular, and behavioral level. Given that in none of the clinical trials using GM1 any clinically relevant safety issues have occurred to date, current data supports expanding GM1 clinical research, particularly to conditions with high, unmet medical need.

Animal prion diseases: the risks to human health.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases of animals notably include scrapie in small ruminants, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids and classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (C-BSE). As the transmission barrier phenomenon naturally limits the propagation of prions from one species to another, and the lack of epidemiological evidence for an association with human prion diseases, the zoonotic potential of these diseases was for a long time considered negligible. However, in 1996, C-BSE was recognized as the cause of a new human prion disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which triggered an unprecedented public health crisis in Europe. Large-scale epidemio-surveillance programs for scrapie and C-BSE that were implemented in the EU after the BSE crisis revealed that the distribution and prevalence of prion diseases in the ruminant population had previously been underestimated. They also led to the recognition of new forms of TSEs (named atypical) in cattle and small ruminants and to the recent identification of CWD in Europe. At this stage, the characterization of the strain diversity and zoonotic abilities associated with animal prion diseases remains largely incomplete. However, transmission experiments in nonhuman primates and transgenic mice expressing human PrP clearly indicate that classical scrapie, and certain forms of atypical BSE (L-BSE) or CWD may have the potential to infect humans. The remaining uncertainties about the origins and relationships between animal prion diseases emphasize the importance of the measures implemented to limit human exposure to these potentially zoonotic agents, and of continued surveillance for both animal and human prion diseases.

Public Attention, Governmental Bargaining, and Supranational Activism: Explaining European Integration in Response to Crises

AbstractWhy and how do crises cause European integration? Going beyond case‐ and policy area‐specific analyses, the present paper develops a general, liberal intergovernmentalist model of the crisis‐integration link. The empirical process‐tracing test of this model is performed on two diverse cases of crises: the BSE Crisis 1996–2002 and the Euro Crisis 2010–13. The original analysis of primary documents and newspaper articles reveals that, as theoretically expected, crises stir high public attention and thus turn policy change in the affected policy areas into a salient issue for governments. This opens a ‘window of opportunity’ for domestic actors to approach their governments with change proposals. Governmental cost–benefit calculations, the distribution of bargaining power at the EU level, as well as supranational activism then explain deeper European integration in response to a crisis. With these findings, the present paper contributes to a broader understanding of the mechanisms of European integration in exceptional times.

Disaster Management and Farm Family Mental Health: The BSE Crisis as a Case Study

Disaster Management and Farm Family Mental Health: The BSE Crisis as a Case Study

GMOs Across the Atlantic

GMOs Across the Atlantic Sacrificing Precaution in the Name of Free Trade? Kofi Annan once said “[…] that arguing against globalisation is like arguing against the laws of gravity”. The world has evolved into a place of omnipresent interconnectivity where people are linked across borders by economic, political, friendly and family ties. Although risks have likewise become globalised in the process, risk management still largely constitutes a national issue. While transnational food scandals as the BSE crisis in 1997 or the horse meat scandal of 2013 have shaken consumers within and beyond the European Union (EU), Member States (MS) nonetheless continue to insist on their sovereignty to approach and handle uncertain risks by themselves. There are a variety of levels related to dealing with uncertain risks that are affected by this controversy. Amongst them are science as in risk assessment, law as in risk regulation and politics as in risk management and the overall coordinating risk governance processes. As neither science or law nor politics are able to provide fully sound and satisfying solutions for coping with uncertain risks, controversy and heated debate remains even long after a political decision has been made on a case. It is striking how all these disciplines attempt to appropriately respond to uncertainty, while they do actually add more complexity and differing opinions. There consequently is no solid ground for policy-makers to base their final decisions on and justify the particular regulation or acceptance of risks. It remains an issue how politics can effectively work in light of uncertainty. This is especially important when considering the effects of globalisation. Through international trade and the flow of goods through the world economy, products associated with uncertain risk cross national borders on a daily basis and need to be regulated. The ongoing negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States of America have highlighted the difficulties regarding this process. If successfully concluded, supposedly by the end of 2014, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would constitute the largest free trade zone worldwide and both the EU and the US would benefit tremendously. However, negotiations have not gone so smoothly due to prevailing disagreement over the rules that should apply for the TTIP. With regards to food safety, the EU and the US have already had difficulties in the past to agree on a common denominator. Related differences and incompatibilities become evident in the debate on food safety. Although consumer protection is a highlyranked principle for both parties, there is little agreement on what requires strict protective measures and what should be regulated only mildly. In the past and recently, problematic issues for the EU have included US exports of genetically modified crops into the EU as well as meat imports from American hormone-treated or -fed animals and chicken meat that was treated with chlorine. On the part of the US, concerns have mostly been about EU lactic-acid washed meat, raw milk cheese and dairy imports into the States. Both parties have according precautionary measures in place, but request each other to drop the various bans and ease regulatory practices and processes on other products.

Introduction

Due to experiences such as the Chernobyl disaster, the asbestos tragedy, various foodscandals and comparable experiences, in modern times technology-based innovationis often associated with risks that are highly uncertain. In other words, there aresuspicions about potential hazards to human health or the environment for which thereis no scientific proof, but which cannot be fully refuted either (Van Asselt & Vos 2006).Following scandals such as the BSE crisis where uncertain risks were initially ignored andgovernments and experts attempted to reassure the public with zero risk statements, thecurrent societal climate in which innovation takes place can be characterized as ‘posttrust’(Löfstedt 2005).Technology-based innovation poses significant challenges to regulators. In the earlystages of the innovation process, when technology could be controlled relatively easily,one does not know enough about harmful consequences to issue regulation, whilst at alater stage, by the time consequences are apparent, control by regulation is expensive anddrastic. This dilemma is referred to as the Collingridge dilemma of control of technology(Collingridge 1980). Furthermore, research into health and environmental impacts usuallylags behind: by the time first insights are available, the research is already outdatedbecause new generations of the technologies are already available (Harremoës et al. 2002)Regulators are foremost confronted with the obstacles to innovation in the contextof trade: the free circulation of innovative products may be blocked by states or tradeblocks for reasons of protection of human or environmental health. Controversiesabout innovation and uncertain risks therefore often have trade consequences. Manyof the complex cases that challenge the EU or the World Trade Organisation (WTO) intheir ambition for further market integration pertain to conflicts about innovation anduncertain risks (Prévost 2014). The question often is how to allow free trade while at thesame time ensuring that the protection of human and environmental health is duly takeninto consideration. Trade conflicts concerning genetically modified organisms (GMOs) andhormones in beef are iconic examples.

Las leguminosas en alimentación animal

From an animal nutrition point of view, legumes can be divided into two groups: fodder legumes (e. g. lucerne) mainly utilized in ruminant nutrition, and grain legumes (e. g. faba beans, peas, lupins) mainly used in bird and swine nutrition and, to a lesser extent, in ruminants. Grain legumes can partially or even totally replace traditional protein sources of animal origin such as meat, bone and fish meals. Moreover, they represent an alternative protein-rich feed ingredient for soybean meal and other oilseed meals. Their average protein content is variable but high (25-45 g / 100 g dry matter). However, the presence of secondary plant metabolites such as protease inhibitors, saponins, lectins, glycosides, tannins, and alkaloids, and their high levels of fiber (non- starch-polysaccharides) have restricted the use of legume-grains in monogastric (poultry and pigs) and ruminant feeding. In spite of this, the interest in, and the number of studies on, these resources as functional food products, especially in human, but also in animal, nutrition, are still on the increase. The ban on the use of animal proteins such as meat and bone meals, which took place in the EU as a consequence of the BSE crisis, has boosted the interest for the use of vegetable proteins, preferentially of local origin, in animal feeds. In order to establish the nutritional value of legumes, particular attention must be paid to their nutritional composition, energy content and amino acid digestibility. In ruminants, the degradability in the rumen of the protein, individual amino acids and carbohydrates are not well known and must be established. Approaches into the presence of tannins in ruminant feeds are currently changing due to their potential beneficial effects on nutrient degradation in the rumen, and on product quality or methane mitigation. Soybean is the raw material preferentially utilized as a protein source in animal feeds, but the great dependency on imported soybean and the fact that most is genetically modified are barriers to its utilization in the EU. In summary, environmental, health and productive considerations result in a growing interest in legume production in the EU.

Current understanding of PrnP Genetics: A tool for Molecular Assisted Selection in Sheep Populations (A review)

Scrapie is a neurodegenerative prion disease of sheep, goats and mouflons, belonging to the group of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which affects humans as well. Even though classical scrapie has been known for over 250 years, the 1985 BSE crisis related to the advent of new forms of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans imposed the implementation of rapid coercive legal measures of prevention, control and eradication of TSEs. According to the prion hypothesis, the transmissible agent is the pathological isoform (PrP Sc ) of cellular prion protein (PrP C ). Specific polymorphisms of the gene that encodes cell prion protein (PrnP) in sheep have been associated with resistance / natural susceptibility to the development and progression of the disease. Combinations of alleles at three adjacent codons (136 [A/V], 154 [H/R], 171 [H/Q/R]) underpin the classification of 15 possible genotypes in risk classes, applicable in selection schemes where the maximum resistance is conferred by ARR allele, and the minimum by the VRQ allele. Although, after applying these programmes, the genetic structure of sheep populations has changed favourably, genotype association studies showed that no genotype is completely resistant to the infection, including homozygote ARR / ARR. With the discovery of atypical scrapie (Nor98), it became evident that the connection between the genetics of prion protein gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to the disease must be re-evaluated individually for each breed. In scrapie monitoring and control programmes, three diagnostic categories of the disease are observed: classical scrapie, atypical scrapie and BSE scrapie in small ruminant. This review shows the chronology of progress in the fight for the eradication of TSEs in sheep, 30 years after the BSE epidemic outburst, focusing especially on the link between the molecular diagnostic forms and the genetics of the disease. Â

震災ショックと被災地産水産物販売の変動

The catastrophic Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011 not only devastated coastal fisheries in Eastern Japan along the Pacific coast, but also triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. This disaster has caused major challenges associated with the threat of radioactive contamination of foodstuffs processed around the affected area. After the earthquake, many studies analyzed consumer attitudes regarding food with radioactive contamination, but none analyzed the actual shocks this caused in retail settings. In this article, we investigate how consumers and retailers reacted to wakame, a famous edible seaweed in Japan, grown in the disaster-affected Tohoku region before and after the earthquake. We analyze point of sale (POS) data from 60 supermarkets in the Kanto region (which borders the Tohoku region to the southwest and includes Tokyo), the Kinki region (surrounding Kyoto, and about 500 km from the Tohoku region) and the Kyushu region (western region of Japan, more than 1,000 km from the Tohoku region). In our analysis, we find a significant reduction in sales of Tohoku-grown wakame in both the Kanto and Kyushu regions. This drop in sales did not rebound as quickly as in previous food contamination accidents. In the case of Japan's BSE crisis, beef consumption levels started to recover soon after the accident. Retailers did not change the sales price of Tohoku-grown wakame permanently, but many stopped stocking it. In the Kanto region, half a year after the earthquake, the decreased sales of wakame as well as the drop in the number of supermarkets carrying Tohoku-grown wakame had mostly returned to pre-earthquake levels, although prices had increased. In the Kyushu region, however, although there was significant recovery in the handling ratio of Tohoku-grown wakame, no recovery in terms of consumer choice was identified.

ONLY GOOD FENCES KEEP GOOD NEIGHBOURS! THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MINISTRY–AGENCY RELATIONSHIPS AT THE SCIENCE–POLICY NEXUS IN GERMAN FOOD SAFETY POLICY

This article makes a further contribution to opening the ‘black box’ of micropractices in ministry–agency relationships. We argue that the mechanisms that come into play in the course of institutionalizing agencification reforms – such as renegotiating mutual roles and rules in ministry–agency interactions – are only poorly covered in the existing literature. To adequately address the negotiated and contingent nature of de facto agency autonomy and political control, we develop an interpretive approach based on the concept of ‘boundary work’. The empirical focus is on ministry–agency interactions at the science–policy nexus in the contested policy field of food safety. By studying actors' stories about the institutionalization processes following the fundamental reorganization of the German food safety administration in the wake of the BSE crisis from a longitudinal perspective, we show how actors manage boundary conflicts via increasingly differentiated backstage coordination.

Working at the science-policy interface

THE veterinary and scientific knowledge base for animal health is evolving rapidly, in line with improving technologies and faster access to better quality data. In parallel, there is an increasing...

The Application of Risk Communication in Food Safety

This article is the result of a review of the last research work related to food contact materials and the way institutions communicate their outcomes to the general public. Overall, it is hoped that this article raises the debate on risk communication, and has immediate relevance to its day-to-day practice. The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) plays a key role in ensuring a high level of food safety for EU citizens. Through this system, food safety authorities in Europe are rapidly informed of serious risks found in relation to food or feed so that together they can react to health threats in a coordinated way [1]. Ensuring that what we eat is safe does not stop at testing the food itself. Everything that comes in contact with food as it is produced, packaged, transported, stored, prepared and consumed, also needs to be safe. This includes materials such as plastics, paper and board, metals, ceramics which are commonly used in manufacturing food packaging, and also kitchenware and cutlery and food processing equipment [2]. All Members of the RASFF (EU-27, European Commission, EFSA as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) have a round-theclock service to ensure that urgent notifications are sent, received and responded to in the shortest time possible (RASFF Portal). Thanks to this alert system, many food safety risks have been averted before they could harm consumers [3]. According to the RASFF 2011 Annual Report’s data Italy has confirmed its long tradition of control. It is true that our system has eradicated serious diseases, but it is also true that we have still important gaps in the practices of risk communication. These practices range from having no communication strategy at all to having communication with no strategy. Now a further step is needed, from “one medicine approach” to “one communication approach”. Health information institutions could potentially have a major influence on future communication strategies if they create a sort of standard to inform all stakeholders of the outcome of their evaluations. Information to the consumer is one of the main concern of the alert system, but in fact there is still a wide divergence between scientific and lay perceptions of risk, especially on a local basis. As highlighted by the WHO since after the BSE crisis, we have to stress the need for better “communication of risk” and find a way to express the conclusions once the scientific and policy deliberations have been completed. Now a further step is needed, from “one medicine approach” to “one communication approach”. Are we well-equipped to face this challenge?

A dark ecology of comedy: environmental cartoons, Jo Shapcott's Mad Cow poems and the motivational function of the comic mode

Pursuing the ‘undigested’ principle in Timothy Morton's ‘The Dark Ecology of Elegy’, this essay will argue that the comic mode, despite seemingly being an opposing mode to Morton's, can produce similar results under the disarming camouflage of humour. To support such a case this essay will explore a range of material: from cartoons on the subject of pollution and climate change to Jo Shapcott's Mad Cow poems that concern the BSE crisis. Approaching such diversity, John Morreall's theories of humour will be applied in order to understand the structures and effects relevant to particular examples of comedy. Whilst this will reveal that an environmental comic mode is replete with Morton's same melancholy, the same ‘black bile’, there will be a departure from Morton's argument by revealing how the comic mode – in its ability to prompt self-identification and self-critique – can offer a corrective function for destructive environmental attitudes.

Another view of impact of BSE crisis in Japanese meat market through the almost ideal demand system model with Markov switching

During this study period, there have been serious food safety concerns regarding Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (henceforth BSE) and bird flu in Japan. Previous studies such as Peterson and Chen (2005) and Ishida et al. (2010) assumed that structural change points in demands were already known and they specified transition functions at the change points. On the other hand, we detected the structural change points without any prior information about change points. To assess the structural change points in the Japanese meat market, we employed the Markov-Switching Almost Ideal Demand System (MS-AIDS) model (Allais and Nichèle, 2007). In this study, we found the structural change point coinciding with the timing of the first reported case of BSE, but not of bird flu.

Food safety issues: From Enlightened Elitism towards Deliberative Democracy? An overview of EFSA’s “Public Consultation” instrument

Following the BSE crisis, the importance of reassuring European consumers and involving them in debate about food safety management issues is generally recognised. Indeed, consulting stakeholders is one of the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) main duties, as stated in its founding regulation (art. 42, whereas 56), where EFSA must have “effective contacts with consumer representatives, producer representatives, processors and any other interested parties”. Even if not clearly obliged to, EFSA has also opted to consider lay citizens’ opinion (under an interpretation of art. 42, wh. 40 of the 178 Reg.) in order to enhance “trust” in food safety. Beyond having formally established meetings with restricted access for participants – like the Stakeholders’ Consultative Platform and the Annual Colloquium, – EFSA engages in its “Public Consultation” web-based Window (PCW). It allows listening to anybody who wishes to submit comments on technical issues.An intriguing question is whether this constitutes a step towards “direct democracy” on food safety issues; under which assumptions EFSA adopted this tool; and under which (internal and external) pressures it updated its functioning in 2008.Using evaluation criteria from the academic literature, we assess the qualities of this mechanism. We conclude that the mechanism does have some merits, even though – as stated by Douglas (1982) “… creating practical participatory mechanisms for the public is increasingly difficult in a decision-making environment heavily dominated by technical expertise”.

Les lubrifiants secs pour le tréfilage

The wire drawing process consists in reducing the diameter of a metallic wire by traction through a die. Wire drawing dry lubricant is a complex product not only considering the selection of raw materials, theirs formulation but also the manufacturing process. It can be assimilated to an elaborate mixture of mainly sodium and calcium soaps with mineral elements (fillers) and additives. The composition and the association of these elements allow the control of thickness and consistence of the lubricant film through the dies. Fatty matters mainly used for the manufacturing of these soaps are tallow and stearic acid extracted from tallow. Initially considered as a waste and questioned during the BSE crisis, tallow is nowadays on demand especially on the biofuels market.