Beef from older cattle is to be allowed back into the UK food chain.
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Beef producers have welcomed moves to allow older cattle back into the food chain, describing it as a huge boost to the industry. The success of new testing procedures being introduced to maintain safety standards will be critical in maintaining consumer trust and the export opportunities that should materialise as a result of the decision.
The British government has moved to put nearly two decades of the BSE crisis behind it, announcing that it is now safe to scrap a key measure protecting humans from the brain-wasting cattle disease.
The Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule, which stopped cattle over 30 months old from being slaughtered for human consumption, was introduced in 1996 to protect people from contracting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). This condition is the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, from which nearly 150 Britons are thought to have died.
According to EU figures, the number of cases of BSE reported has dropped from 124.4 cases per 10,000 animals tested in 2001, to 6.49 cases between January and July of this year – a fall of over 95%. The UK’s Food Standards Agency recommended the move because of what it describes as the “very low risk to consumers and the effectiveness of other controls”.
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By GlobalDataCurrently Britain can export beef that comes from cows under 30 months old and off the bone under EU rules, but volumes are low. However, it is expected that the eventual removal of the ban will increase Scottish cattle trade by 10% and, given the positive impact on cattle trade, beef producers are understandably delighted by the changes. The move also has the full backing of the European Commission.
Trust between consumers and food suppliers is increasingly fragile, however, and the impact of the BSE scare has done much to erode it. Therefore, the government’s plans to remove the OTM restriction and provide a rigorous BSE testing system will only benefit agricultural trade if consumers both at home and abroad believe the new systems to be failsafe. The change in regulation is a risky move therefore, given that the spectre of BSE remains in consumers’ minds. The government’s efforts to restore consumers’ faith and stimulate trade may yet be scuppered if the move generates further negative publicity about food safety.
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