French attack British beef
12 January 2000
French attack British beef
FRENCH politicians have launched another attack on Britains safety standards on beef.
Andre Angot, a member of a French parliamentary delegation conducting an inquiry into food safety, said that traceability, slaughtering and testing methods were unreliable in Britain.
Felix Leyzour, the president of the committee, backed the French decision to block UK beef imports.
He pointed out that the disparity in the number of cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) between the two countries demonstrated poor safety standards in the UK.
There are 48 cases of CJD reported in Britain, against just two in France.
The EU BSE ban on British beef was lifted in August last year. France and Germany refused to accept British beef citing safety fears.
The European Commission is taking legal action to have the bans removed.