Huron County Bovine TB Trace Investigation Opens
March 4, 2014
Lansing – The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) today announced laboratory tests on samples taken from a two-year-old Holstein steer, during slaughter surveillance, were positive for bovine Tuberculosis (TB). The carcass was removed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) and lesion samples were sent to USDA’s Animal Research Laboratory in Ames, Iowa to confirm the strain of TB. “There is potential that this animal may be connected to the Saginaw County bovine TB investigation that began in March 2013, but the genetic testing to confirm this can take up to eight weeks,” said State Veterinarian Dr. James Averill. This bovine TB positive Huron County steer came from a feedlot that was part of the trace investigation for the 2013 Saginaw County dairy herd. The feedlot owner had signed an agreement to only ship to a USDA-FSIS slaughter plant. It is common practice in Michigan to sell castrated calves, usually Holsteins, from dairy farms to businesses that grow them into beef. The cattle are co-mingled from multiple farms before the steers go to market at their optimal weight, usually between 18 and 24 months of age. During FSIS inspection, any carcass with suspicious lesions is removed and samples are sent to the laboratory for testing. Bovine TB is a slow growing bacterium that infects the lungs and the lymph nodes of cattle. The bovine TB bacterium does not grow in muscle tissue thus, food is not impacted, but out of an abundance of caution, the carcass is always condemned. Bovine TB, like all pathogens, is killed during the cooking process. A temperature of 165 degrees for 15 seconds will kill bacteria. In March 2013, MDARD quarantined a Saginaw County dairy farm as part of the bovine TB response plan, and started a trace investigation into where the farm’s cattle went, or came from in the past five years. Over 26,000 cattle have been tested as part of the trace investigation thus far. Feedlots connected to the Saginaw County investigation remain under agreements to sell directly to slaughter until they are empty. Michigan has been testing for bovine TB in cattle and working to eradicate the disease since 1995. For more information, visit: www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases .
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