“Absolutely not for the time being”, it clearly sounds at the Belgian federal food agency (FASFC). “We already do active monitoring in Belgium,” says spokesperson Hélène Bonte in “VRT NWS Live”. “That does not mean that every sex of cattle is checked, but that is done when we suspect that an animal could be sick.”
Risk animals are also systematically checked: risk animals are animals that have been slaughtered out of necessity or that are older than 48 months, as mad cow disease is more common in older animals.
“Slaughterhouses also take a lot of measures to ensure that the meat does not become contaminated. The mad cow disease, for example, is located in the brains and they are systematically removed from the cadaver. So there is no reason to worry for the time being, but we are monitoring the situation the foot.”
