Mad cow worry over beef from EU
19 September 2001
Mad cow worry over beef from EU
By FWi staff
CONCERN is rising over the possibility that beef imported into Britain from Continental Europe may be infected with BSE, report two national papers.
Within one or two years, France will have more cases of the disease than Britain, according to BSE expert Roy Anderson in The Daily Telegraph.
Prof Anderson, of Imperial College London, is calling for stricter checks and improved surveillance of imported meat, reports the Daily Mail.
He told a public meeting of the governments Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee he was worried about imports from various countries.
“The disturbing element in both [France and Germany] is that the rise in BSE has been very rapid in the last two years,” he said.
“My worry at the moment is also Spain, Italy and Greece. They have very low BSE numbers at the moment but I suspect theyre going to rise next year”.
The Times quotes Professor Anderson as saying that spot-testing may be needed to check for mechanically recovered meat in imported sausages.
German BSE cases rose from 50 to 80 between 1999 and 2000. French BSE cases number 160 so far this year, compared to about 400 in the UK.