Define concerns of food safety-Prions
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) have been the highly publicized food safety hazard. You may recall reading about the mad-cow disease and large number of diseased cattle being destroyed in the UK, or about the ban on British beef worldwide. Why was this action being taken? What was the hazard? The hazard was from the Prions (pronounced pree- ahns). Prions entered the public's consciousness during the mad cow epidemic that hit England in 1986.
What are Prions?
Prions, the cause of BSE and CJD, are an entirely new source of food borne diseases. Prions, is the abbreviation of proteinaceous particles. The word 'Prion' was coined by Dr: Stanley Prusiner to indicate that this disease was caused by a "proteinaceous infectious agent." Prions,
In fact, are modified forms of a normal protein called as PrPC.The protein that causes this and all other prion diseases is called PrPSC, which stands for prion protein of scrapie. Prions enter cells and apparently convert normal proteins found within the cells into prions just like themselves. The proteins accumulate in the brain causing holes or plaques and the subsequent clinical symptom leading to death. The medical term for the prion diseases is "spongiform encephalopathies," in acknowledgement that the sick brains are riddled with holes and have taken the form of sponges.
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in animals and humans are caused by prions. Prions, therefore, can be infectious and can cause infectious diseases. The second and potentially more troubling aspect is that, like other infectious agents, prions can jump species' barriers and cause d&dly diseases in humans. Only time will tell how big a problem the prions will be both as the agents of dreadful dlseases of the human nervous system and as vectors of diseases from other species.
BSE was first confirmed in cattle in 1986 in UK. It is commonly accepted that BSE was first caused in Britain when cattle were fed carcass meal from scrapie infected sheep. Since 1999, other countries in Europe e.g., Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherland, Portugal etc. have reported confirmed cases of BSE.
Humans contracted the non-classic form of CJD, called new variant CJD (vCJD) after consuming cattle meat, in particular, the nervous tissue.