杏吧原创

MILLIONS of Germans could be eating brain tissue in cooked meat products that
are supposed to be 鈥渂rain-free鈥�, a new test reveals.

German scientists have developed the first test for brain and spinal cord
material in products such as p芒t茅 and sausages. Their tests reveal
that up to 15 per cent of German liverwurst and mettwurst, also known as
bologna, may contain undeclared brain material. The scientists say that the use
of such tissue is 鈥渦nacceptable with regard to the development of new variant
颁闯顿鈥�.

Countries which recognise that their cattle may have BSE destroy brains and
spinal cords from slaughtered animals, as these are the most infectious parts.
The European Commission wants all member countries of the European Union to do
the same, in case BSE is lurking in countries that are officially free of it. In
December, the Commission鈥檚 Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) concluded that
鈥渇ailure to do so is likely to expose a large number of consumers to an
unnecessary risk鈥�.

But Germany refuses. 鈥淲e have no BSE in our cattle,鈥� says Dorothe Heidemann
of the Action Committee for German Meat, which represents farmers. 鈥淎nd there is
no wide use of brain in meat products.鈥�

鈥淲e questioned this,鈥� says Ernst L眉cker of Giessen University. 鈥淏rain is
cheap material for sausages.鈥� But, he says, 鈥渨e were astonished to discover
there was no way to test for it in cooked meat products.鈥�

So L眉cker and his team decided to find a way. They collected 440 samples
of local ready-to-eat sausage and 126 samples of liverwurst from all over
Germany. First, they measured cholesterol. Brain is rich in it, but so are other
potential ingredients, such as eggs. They then used monoclonal antibodies to
test those sausages with unusually high cholesterol for protein from glial cells
in the brain and for an enzyme called enolase, which comes from neurons.

Those results, plus more recent data, says L眉cker, revealed that blood
sausage and nearly all frankfurters were brain-free. But brain matter turned up
in 9 per cent of liverwurst and 15 per cent of mettwurst. It is not illegal to
put brain in food in Germany. 鈥淏ut these were the highest-quality products,
which may not contain any innards but liver,鈥� he says. One company using brain
repeatedly has already been fined as a result of the tests.

This poses no risk if the brains are from pigs, or uninfected cattle, but
L眉cker鈥檚 test cannot distinguish species. 鈥淚f there is any brain when the
label says there should be none, we should be cautious,鈥� he says.

The SSC is expected to announce shortly that BSE cannot be ruled out in
Germany. In addition, Germany imports some of its sausage meat, says
L眉cker. Meat from countries with BSE should not contain brain, but without
a test it has been impossible to tell if the ban is enforced. Now, the Swiss
Federal Veterinary Office in Bern plans to use L眉cker鈥檚 test to monitor
imported and domestic sausage.