BSE surveillance shows why targeted sampling matters more than a headline total

The US bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, surveillance programme updated its figures on 1 September. APHIS reports 19,033 valid samples and 405,474 cumulative BSurvE points in fiscal year 2026, covering data from October 2025 through August 2026. The update matters because it shows how animal-health assurance is maintained through documented, risk-targeted sampling rather than testing every slaughtered animal.

The system focuses on cattle populations in which the disease would be most likely to be found. Samples are collected at farms, veterinary and public-health diagnostic laboratories, slaughter facilities, veterinary clinics and livestock markets. APHIS states that the surveillance design can detect one BSE case per one million animals in the national herd with 95% confidence during the defined period.

The sample total should not be interpreted as an individual-control guarantee for every carcass. Its role is epidemiological: to provide risk-proportionate surveillance and comparable evidence on national herd health. For slaughterhouses and marketers, this means that national surveillance complements—but does not replace—operational controls, specified-risk-material removal and establishment-level documentation.

APHIS also notes that the United States stopped calculating OIE points from fiscal year 2025 because the World Organisation for Animal Health changed the relevant chapter. BSurvE points continue to be shown in the update as part of the surveillance design. The practical lesson is that animal-health indicators must always be read together with their current method and definition. Only then can they credibly support export, sourcing and confidence decisions across the meat chain.