Test To Protect
Food Chain From Human Form Of Mad Cow Disease
Source of Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811094749.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2008) — Scientists are reporting development of
the first test for instantly detecting beef that has been contaminated with
tissue from a cow's brain or spinal cord during slaughter — an advance in
protecting against possible spread of the human form of Mad Cow Disease.
Jürgen A. Richt and
colleagues point out that removal of brain, spinal and other central nervous
tissue after slaughter is "one of the highest priority tasks to avoid
contamination of the human food chain with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy," better known as Mad Cow Disease. "No currently
available method enables the real-time detection of possible central nervous
system (CNS) tissue contamination on carcasses during slaughter," the
report states.
They describe a test based on detection of the fluorescent pigment lipofuscin, a substance that appears in high concentrations
in the nervous tissue of cattle. The researchers found that it was a dependable
indicator for the presence of brain and spinal tissue in bovine carcasses and
meat cuts.
"Small quantities of bovine spinal cord were reliably detected in the
presence of raw bovine skeletal muscle, fat and vertebrae. The research lays
the foundation for development of a prototype device allowing real-time
monitoring of CNS tissue contamination on bovine carcasses and meat cuts,"
the report says.
It was done with colleagues from the
Journal reference:
1.
Fluorescence-Based
Method, Exploiting Lipofuscin, for Real-Time Detection of Central Nervous
System Tissues on Bovine Carcasses. Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008; 56 (15): 6220 DOI: 10.1021/jf0734368
Adapted from materials
provided by American Chemical
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