Australia has a global reputation for being free of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.
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Stock food manufacturers, sellers of stock food and livestock producers need to be mindful of the need to protect our BSE free status by rigorously adhering to the Ruminant Feed Ban.
Manufacturers, suppliers and sellers of stock food must ensure stock food is correctly labelled. Producers must ensure that restricted animal material is not fed to ruminants and other cloven–hoofed species.
If the BSE disease agent were ever introduced to Australia, the Ruminant Feed Ban would stop it being amplified or establishing a cycle of infection.
To be able to claim that our livestock are free of BSE we are obliged to have a BSE surveillance system in place.
This means if sheep over 18 months of age and cattle over 30 months show signs of BSE, they must have a post mortem to establish they do not have BSE.