Presence of Central Nervous System (CNS) Tissue In Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR) Products

<p>The continued effort to eliminate central nervous system (CNS) tissue from the food supply, even in the absence of any known BSE cases in the USA, is a prudent approach to protecting the markets for American beef. This study examined the incidence of CNS contamination resulting from different beef processing methods and studied the effects of heat and chemical additives on the detection of CNS. Two methods of detection for the presence of CNS tissue in meat products use an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of CNS tissue. Both methods were evaluated in this study. One, which tests for the presence of a neural protein called syntaxin 1-B, was previously tested for accuracy in detecting CNS contamination of blood after captive bolt, pithing and air injection stunning (Anil, et al., 1999; Love, et al., 2000). The GFAP ELISA, tests for the presence and level of GFAP, or glial fibrillary acidic protein, an indicator of CNS tissue in meat.</p>