Health
Scientific Committees
Scientific Steering Committee (former MDSC)
Outcome of discussions
Scientific
Opinion on the safety of organic fertilisers derived from
mammalian animals, adopted by the Scientific Steering
Committee at its meeting of 24-25 September 1998
Opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee on the
safety of organic fertilisers derived from mammalian
animals
Executive Summary
The question
The scientific Steering Committee was
invited to address the following question:
"Can organic fertilisers derived from materials from
mammalian animals, naturally or experimentally
susceptible to Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies,
be safely used? If so, under what conditions?"
The opinion
As a matter of general principle the SSC wants to
state that neither organic fertiliser nor any other
product should be produced from material coming from
animals suspect or confirmed to carry the BSE agent.
a) No organic fertiliser should be produced from
bovine material originating from countries carrying a
high BSE risk.
b) Organic fertilisers derived from mammalians
originating from BSE free (negligible BSE-risk)
regions/countries carry a zero or negligible BSE-risk for
man, animals or the environment. They may be used as a
fertiliser.
c) For other countries:
- Organic fertilisers, derived from mammalian tissues
that are known to have the potential to carry the
BSE-agent, should always be produced in accordance with the
criteria laid down by the SSC for the safe production of
MBM (Opinion of the SSC on the safety of MBM, 26-27
March, 1998;
Updated Report on the Safety of Meat-and-bone Meal
derived from Mammalian Animals Fed to Non-Ruminant
Food-Producing Farm Animals, prepared for the
Scientific Steering Committee and presented at its meeting
of 24-25 September 1998)
or hydrolysed proteins. They may be used as fertiliser.
Ingestion by man or ruminants must be prevented.
- Organic fertilisers derived from mammalian tissues
which have not been found to be infected by the BSE-agent
(e.g. blood, horn, hoof may be used as fertiliser.
Ingestion by man or ruminants must be prevented.
Note: The SSC does not exclude the possibility that
exist production systems may exist which can produce safe
organic fertilisers also from infected material, e.g. by
more severe temperature/time/pressure combinations. Such
processes should be evaluated on a case by case
basis.
Note: The above opinion of the SSC is
based on the attached report of the working group of the
TSE/BSE ad hoc Group, which was accepted by the TSE/BSE
ad-hoc group and then by the SSC, following critical
discussion and review.
Report of the Working Group
1. The question
"Can organic fertilisers derived from materials from
mammalian animals, naturally or experimentally
susceptible to Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies,
be safely used? If so, under what conditions?"
2. Definitions
For the purpose of the present report
and opinion, the following definitions are used:
Fit for human consumption
The wording "Fit for human consumption"
hereafter refers to material from animals that passed both
pre- and post mortem inspection by a competent veterinary
authority and that is certified and identifiable as fit for
human consumption on the basis of the existing national and
EU legislation. The Working Group stresses that positive
identification of material from animals not fit for human
consumption should be possible, to avoid such material
entering the food or feed chains. This definition implies
that material which was originally derived from animals fit
for human consumption, may become unfit for consumption,
for example because of inadequate storage or transport
conditions. The latter risks should be dealt with in
specific opinions or legislation.
Meat and bone meal derived from mammalian animals
(MMBM).
The definition and report hereafter do
not refer to blood meal.
Meat and bone meal, derived from
mammalian animals (MMBM), is defined as processed animal
protein intended for animal consumption, or as intermediate
product for the production of organic fertiliser or other
derived products.
Organic fertilisers from slaughter residues of
mammalian animals
Organic fertilisers obtained from
slaughter residues of animals which are not / can not be
used to feed ruminants animals. For the purpose of the
present report, the slaughter residues are limited to the
following mammalian products: dried blood, Bones, Bone
dicalcium phosphate, Bone meal, Bone waste, Bone waste
meal, Bone degelatinized, Bone degelatinized meal, Hides,
Hoofs and/or horns, Hoof and/or horn meal, Hair hydrolyzed,
Leather meal, Leather roasted, Meat, Meat and bone meal,
Meat meal, Mixed animal origin, Hydrolyzed proteins or
amino-acids and peptides, Wool and/or hair.
Safely use
In the context of these opinions, only
the safety aspects relating to the BSE agent are taken into
account. Unless otherwise stated, the microbiological
safety of organic fertiliser is not addressed by this
opinion.
Specified risk materials or SRMs
Unless otherwise specified, the wordings
"SRMs or Specified risk materials" refers to all tissues
listed in the opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee
(SSC) adopted on 9 December 1997. However, the SSC intends
to consider the possibility of making a selection of
specified risk materials on the basis of the results of a
risk assessment, which takes into account the geographical
origin of the animals, their species and their age.
"133°C/20'/3 bars"
The wording "133°C/20'/3 bars" refers to
hyperbaric production process of not less than 133°C during
not less than 20 minutes, without air entrapped in the
sterilising chamber conditions at not less than 3 bar or an
equivalent process with demonstrated efficacy in terms of
inactivating TSE agents. The lag time needed to reach the
core temperature is not included in the time requirement
for correct rendering.
Remark: Further clarifications on the
above definition are provided in the
Updated Report on the Safety of Meat-and-bone Meal
derived from Mammalian Animals Fed to Non-Ruminant
Food-Producing Farm Animals, which was prepared for the
Scientific Steering Committee and presented at its meeting
of 24-25 September 1998.
3. Background
A tentative list of the various organic
fertilisers of mammalian animal origin is:
Dried blood, Bones, Bone dicalcium
phosphate, Bone meal, Bone waste, Bonewaste meal, Bone
degelatinized, Bone degelatinized meal, Hides, Hoofs and/or
horns, Hoof and/or horn meal, Hair hydrolyzed, Leather
meal, Leather roasted, Meat, Meat and bone meal, Meat meal,
Mixed animal origin, Protein hydrolyzed or
aminoacids-peptides, Wool and/or hair
Slaughter residues are an excellent
substrate for the production of fertilisers. The are
produced by processes that:
- imply practically no transformation
(e.g. blood meal, bone meal, etc.);
- have demonstrated a certain capacity
to reduce the BSE-infectivity (e.g. MBM, hydrolysed
proteins).
These fertilisers are characterised by
quite high nitrogen and phosphorus contents, high and fast
availability, and by the fact that they cannot be washed
away. The continuous and the slow release of the nitrogen
in NH
4
+ form reduces the phenomenon of potential
pollution of the underground layers due to nitrate
leaching. Furthermore, organic fertilisers contain
compounds with growth-promoting or growth-promoting-like
characteristics (free amino acids, peptides and
polypeptides that are useful for qualitative crop
production or are rich in specific trace minerals like Fe
in blood meals).
Organic fertilisers in the form of
compost improve the chemical and physical characteristics
of the soil. UNEGA has estimated that no less than 350,000
tons of meals for use in fertilisers could be produced
within the EU.
According to the current EU-legislation,
organic fertilisers may be obtained from any slaughter
residues, including the SRM (specified risk materials), as
defined in the opinion of the SSC of 9/12/97, and carcasses
of dead animals (fallen stock).
Since 1996, SEAC (the UK Spongiform
Encephalopathy Advisory Committee) has suggested to ban the
use of meat meals as fertilisers in those cases where the
conditions exist for ruminants to accidentally ingest this
type of material.
The recent UK Regulation - The
fertilisers (Mammalian Meat and Bone Meal) 1998/954 -
introduces the prohibition of mammalian meat and bone meal
as or in fertiliser on agricultural land
(In these UK
Regulations, the following definitions are used:
agricultural land means land used or capable of use
the purpose of a trade or business in connection with
agriculture;
agriculture includes fruit growing, seed growing,
dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the the
use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, the
use of land for woodlands, and horticulture (except the
propagation of plants and the growing of plants within
greenhouses and glass or plastic structures);
mammalian meat and bone meal means mammalian protein
derived from the whole or part of any dead mammal by the
process of rendering)
The UK Regulation 1998 - The fertilisers
(Mammalian Meat and Bone Meal) 1998/955 - further introduce
the prohibition in respect of the manufacture of mammalian
meat and bone meal for use as or fertilisers (In these UK
Regulations, the following definitions are used:
agricultural land means land used or capable of use
the purpose of a trade or business in connection with
agriculture;
agriculture includes fruit growing, seed growing,
dairy farming and livestock breeding and keeping, the the
use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, the
use of land for woodlands, and horticulture (except the
propagation of plants and the growing of plants within
greenhouses and glass or plastic structures);
mammalian meat and bone meal means mammalian protein
derived from the whole or part of any dead mammal by the
process of rendering)
"No person shall manufacture mammalian
meat and bone meal for use as or in any fertiliser except
by a rendering process in which-
(a) the particle size of the raw
material prior to processing is reduced so that the maximum
dimension of no particle exceeds 50 mm; and
(b) the material is heated to core
temperature of more than 133°C for at least 20 minutes at a
pressure of at least 3 bar."
4. Identification of possible hazards and elements of
risk assessment
Preliminary remark:
a complete section on hazards and risks
related to meat-and-bone meal figures in the
Updated Report and Scientific Opinion on the Safety of
Meat-and-Bone Meal Derived from Mammalian Animals fed to
Non-rumimant Food Producing Farm Animals which was
prepared for the Scientific Steering Committee and
presented at its meeting of 24-25 September 1998.
The first possible hazard is that the
organic fertiliser would carry a residual
BSE-infectivity.
If this would be the case the following
additional hazards exists:
- ingestion by humans or animals of
residues of the fertiliser, if this was applied to pasture,
lawn or food crops (in particular leaf-vegetables);
- contact of humans or animals with the
fertiliser during its application;
- potential involuntary persistence in
the environment of and contamination of soil and water with
the BSE-agent, including a potential accumulation of
infectivity over years.
Elements of the risk assessment:
1. The risk that organic fertiliser would carry a
residual BSE-infectivity
- Organic fertilisers which are produced
without being exposed to any process known to reduce BSE
infectivity (e.g. dried blood, bone meal) would carry the
same BSE risk as the raw material from which they are
derived.
- The risk of organic fertilisers, which
are produced with being exposed to processes known to
reduce BSE-infectivity (e.g. the 133/20/3 MBM-process or
the hydrolisation process, see opinions of the SSC on
these) will carry a considerably lower risk than the raw
material from which they are produced.
- Exposing organic fertilisers, produced
via MBM, to harsher conditions than the 133/20/3 would
enhance the safety further.
2. The risk of ingestion of residues of the fertiliser
by humans or animals
- The amounts ingested by this way are
probably rather small. Human consumption will normally
follow washing the material which would reduce the
fertiliser residues on the surface. Animal consumption
could be more substantial.
- No information is available as to the
inactivation of an eventual residual infectivity of organic
fertiliser by external conditions such as atmospheric
conditions, microbiological activity, ploughing, washing of
by rain or irrigation, etc. It is therefore not possible to
assess if, and after which period, consumption of crops
treated with organic fertiliser could be safe, if it could
not be excluded that these carry the BSE-agent.
3. Contact of humans or animals with the fertiliser
during its application
- Solid organic fertilisers could enter
the human (or animal) body via the skin or through
inhalation. No information is available as to the
transferability of the BSE-agent by these routes.
Accordingly no maximum exposure value can be defined
4. Contamination of soil and water with the BSE-agent,
including a potential accumulation of infectivity over
years.
- No information is available as to the
behaviour (including accumulation) of the BSE-agent in the
soil, the ground water or the surface water. There is,
however, concern that a remote risk could exist that it
would enter BSE-resistant species (e.g. mites) and by that
create a potential source for future outbreaks.
Conclusion:
It is currently not possible to assess
the potential risk that could be posed by BSE-contaminated
organic fertilisers for human, animals or the
environment.
The following considerations are
therefore essential for ensuring that organic fertilisers
are safe in use with respect to BSE:
- Organic fertilisers which are produced
without being exposed to any process known to reduce BSE
infectivity can only be regarded as BSE-"free" if the raw
material can be regarded to be BSE-free. This would require
that it originated from countries or regions classified as
BSE-free (or having a negligible risk of BSE) and/or that
it was only prepared from those tissues or body fluids
which are not likely to carry the BSE-agent (With regard to
blood an opinion is pending as to its capacity to transfer
BSE).
- Organic fertilisers which are produced
with being exposed to processes known to reduce
BSE-infectivity may be regarded as BSE free (or carry a
negligible BSE-risk) if the conditions for the safe
production of MBM or hydrolysed proteins (see SSC opinions
on these subjects) are respected.
- Organic fertilisers regarded as
BSE-free or as carrying a negligible BSE-risk might be used
for any application as fertiliser. Except for the case
where the raw material is coming from a BSE-free source,
ingestion by man or animals (in particular ruminants) must
be prevented.
5. Not exhaustive list of scientific and technical
documents used by the working group.
Alexandersen, S., 1998. Various letters
to the secretariat of the Scientific Steering Committee
with comments on and contributions to the various versions
of the draft reports of the Working Group.
Böhm, R., 1998. Various letters to the
secretariat of the Scientific Steering Committee with
comments on and contributions to the various versions of
the draft reports of the Working Group.
Bradley R., 1998. Various letters, with
scientific comments on a draft report of the Working
Group.
Dormont, D., 1998. Various letters to
the secretariat of the Scientific Steering Committee with
comments on and contributions to the various versions of
the draft reports of the Working Group.
MAFF (UK Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food), 1998a. Bulletin N° 18
MAFF(UK Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food), 1998b. Bulletin N° 20.
MAFF-AGRICULTURE
- Regulations 1998 - The fertilisers Mammalian Meat and
Bone Meal 1998/954
MAFF-AGRICULTURE
- Regulations 1998 - The fertilisers Mammalian Meat and
Bone Meal 1998/955
Piva, G., Sequi, P., 1998. Safety of
organic fertilisers from residues of slaughtered mammalian
animals. Technical report submitted to the TSE/BSE
ad hoc group of the Scientific Steering Committee.
7pp
Piva, G., 1998. Various letters to the
secretariat of the Scientific Steering Committee with
comments on and contributions to the various versions of
the draft reports of the Working Group.
Prusiner, S.B., 1997. Prion Diseases and
the BSE Crisis. Science, Vol. 278 (10 October 1997): pp
245-251.
Riedinger, O., 1998a. Stellungnahme zum
vorläufigen Arbeitspapier der "BSE/TSE-working group", das
unter Federführung van Prof.Piva am 12.02.98 in Brüssel
beraten soll. Discussion paper. 10pp (available in German
and in English).
Riedinger, O., 1998b. Additional remarks
concerning TSE agents and safe rendering procedure. Letter
of 19 March 1998 to the SSC secretariat.
Schreuder, B.E.C., Geertsma, R.E., van
Keulen, L.J.M., van Asten, J.A.A.M., Enthoven, P.,
Oberthür, R.C., de Koeijer, A.A., Osterhaus, A.D.M.E.,
1998. Studies on the efficacy of hyperbaric rendering
procedures in inactivating bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE) and scrapie agents. The Veterinary Record, Vol. 142:
pp. 474-480.
Sequi, P., 1998. Various letters to the
secretariat of the Scientific Steering Committee with
comments on and contributions to the various versions of
the draft reports of the Working Group.
Taylor, D., 1998. Various letters to the
secretariat of the Scientific Steering Committee with
comments on and contributions to the various versions of
the draft reports of the Working Group.
Taylor, D.M., Woodgate, S.L., Fleetwood,
A.J., Cawthorne, R.J.G., 1997. The effect of rendering
procedures on scrapie agent. Veterinary Record. Vol.141,
pp. 643-649.
Taylor, D.M., Fernie, K., McConnell, I.,
Ferguson, C.E., Steele, 1998. Solvent extraction as an
adjustment to rendering; the effect on BSE ans scrapie of
the solvent followed by dry heat and steam.-Veterinary
Record. Vol.143, pp. 6-9.
Vanbelle, M., 1998. Various letters to
the secretariat of the Scientific Steering Committee with
comments on and contributions to the various versions of
the draft reports of the Working Group.
6. Acknowledgements
The present opinion of the SSC is
substantially based on the work of a working group, chaired
by Prof.Dr.M.Vanbelle. Other members of the working group
were: Dr R. Prof.Dr. R.Böhm, Dr.R.Bradley, Prof.Dr. J.
W.Bridges, Prof.Dr.D.Dormont, Prof.DVM. Esko Nurmi, Prof.
Dr. A.-L. Parodi, Prof.Dr.G.Piva, Dr. M.Riedinger, Dr.
B.Schreuder, Prof.Dr. P.Sequi, Prof.Soren Alexandersen,
Dr.D.Taylor, Dr. H.A.P. Urlings, Prof.Dr. M.Wierup,
Prof.Dr. P.Willeberg.
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