Canada.com reports that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has raised concerns over elk antler velvet, a common ingredient used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and many supplement products. CFIA suspects powdered antler velvet could contain infectious prions associated with chronic wasting disease if harvested from infected animals.
Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is a fatal disease that spreads among species in the deer family and is similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, commonly referred to as mad cow disease.
The group sounding the alarm, Calgary-based Alliance for Public Wildlife, points to a collaborative study by CFIA, the University of Kentucky Medical Center, Colorado State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture just published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal. To read the study, click here.
Meanwhile, the CFIA has posted a cautious Q&A about CWD on its website here. One question asks is “powdered antler velvet from animals that have been exposed to CWD safe for human consumption?”
According to Health Canada there are no studies available on the safety of tissues from deer and elk with CWD. In studies using mice experimentally infected with scrapie, another TSE, muscle and skin tissues were not found to be infectious at any detectable level. Similarly it is recognized that BSE is not transmitted by meat and skin.
However, we have to be very cautious in using these results to predict the safety of products from infected or exposed elk, since test results from one species do not necessarily apply to another. Velvet and other products or by-products from elk or deer known to be infected with CWD are not allowed to enter the human or animal food chain. Velvet is used as a medicinal alternative.
No indication yet on whether the CFIA’s concern will spill over into the US and become an issue for FDA or USDA.
Let’s take a closer look at this. A recall isn’t even near being made. In reading the new article posted on http://www.canada.com, written by Hanneke Brooymans of Canwest New Service, the organization wanting a recall is the Alliance for Public Wildlife. This article also quotes Dr. Cornelius Kiley, senior veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is quoted saying, “Based upon the scientific evidence at this time, they should not be concerned. People who sonsume nutritional supplements made from antler velvet don’t need to worry.” This appears to be another attack on farm-raised elk to me.
Diana, I think you are correct, we are probably a ways away from a recall. However, I thought it appropriate to post this based upon prior concerns raised at FDA regarding dietary supplement products made with animal derived ingredients that may come from cattle infected with BSE. See, “Animal Derived Dietary Supplement Ingredients” at http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/slides/3681s2_07.pdf