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January 20, 2005, as reported by just-food.com:
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has released
new safety information including a preferred method
for killing tapeworms and their eggs in slaughtered
meat and a new test for detecting Taenia saginata cysticercosis,
a particularly hard to diagnose strand of tapeworm.
EFSA’s BIOHAZ panel says freezing pig, wild boar
or cattle carcasses at -10°C or lower for ten days
or longer kills these ‘cysticerci’. This
“provides a basis for the prevention and control
of human taeniosis” caused by tapeworms taenia
solium, saginata and saginata asiatica.
The panel also called for the speedy official validation
of new diagnostic meat tests detecting the pathogen
Taenia saginata cysticercosis. This is often missed
by standard meat inspections, where existing incision
tests can cause cross-contamination. Blood sample analyses
awaiting EU approval “appear particularly promising.”
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