FAQs on anthrax and possible contamination of foods with Bacillus anthracis
BfR FAQ, 22 October 2014
Cattle from a Slovakian cattle population were recently slaughtered in Poland. A few days later, some animals of the same herd became ill with and died of anthrax. Subsequently subjected to veterinary examinations, the animals slaughtered in Poland did not show any symptoms of illness. Nor did the meat inspection indicate that the cattle had contracted anthrax. Following clearance, the meat of the animals was delivered, via the Netherlands, to several meat processing plants in some member states of the European Union. This happened before the anthrax cases in the Slovakian herd became known. Some of those processing plants are in Germany. Having received the information that meat from a herd potentially infected with anthrax has entered the food chain, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has compiled a list of FAQ on the subject.