Vet suspended over BSE health risk
27 November 2001
Vet suspended over BSE health risk
By Adrienne Francis
A VETERINARY surgeon who allowed a BSE-risk cattle carcass into the food chain has been suspended from the veterinary register for 12 months.
Hans Baier was working at Newtons Abattoir, Crewe, Cheshire for the Meat Hygiene Service when the incident occurred in September 2000.
The animal was slaughtered when, according to its official cattle passport, it was one day over 30 months.
But it should not have been certified under the Over Thirty Months Scheme, which bans older cattle from human consumption.
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons said Mr Baier had falsified the documentation and involved his subordinates in the cover-up.
The Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons found him guilty of two counts of disgraceful professional conduct.
Mr Baier pleaded guilty to both charges and accepted the incident had been an error of judgement, which he sincerely regretted.
Committee chairman Judy MacArthur Clark said Mr Baier had been frank about his actions and recognised the gravity of what he had done.
“Certification goes to the core of the work of a veterinary surgeon whose integrity is rightly assumed by the public,” she said.