Brussels, December 5, 2001.
Raw material regulations and gelatine production processes in place guarantee maximum safety for consumers.
An international study of the bovine bone gelatine manufacturing process which tested all the process steps with the potential of removing and/or inactivating BSE pathogens has confirmed once more that all commonly used processes are extremely effective.
Even when the gelatine manufacturing process is applied to raw materials artificially infected with BSE, the study shows that no residual infectivity can be found in the gelatine with the most sensitive detection methods.
This was the common understanding, when the researchers presented their results to the international scientific community, European and overseas regulatory representatives and other experts during the “Gelatine Process Study Workshop” held in Brussels on December 5, 2001. Prof. Dr. Osterhaus, vice-chairman of the Scientific Steering Committee of the European Commission, chaired the workshop.
The study, which confirms the results obtained in previous studies, was carried out in three reputable international research centers: the Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh (Scotland), the Baltimore Research and Education Foundation (USA) and the ID-Lelystad (the Netherlands).
GME (Gelatine Manufacturers of Europe) initiated in 1999 the comprehensive scientific study on bovine bone gelatine under the auspices of the European Commission and within the framework of the BSE Research Program. The purpose of this research was to further evaluate, throughout the entire gelatine manufacturing process, the possibility of removing and/or inactivating any contamination by BSE pathogens that might have accidentally entered into the manufacturing process in spite of all precautions having been taken with the raw materials.
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