Royal Welsh: Minister urges caution on horsemeat policy

Multi-species meat processing plants will be forced to shut down if the UK adopts a zero tolerance approach to cross-species contamination, Wales’ farm minister has warned.


During a Royal Welsh Show debate on the horsemeat scandal, Alun Davies urged caution against following a policy that would guarantee all meat was free from contamination by other species.


“If we want to absolutely guarantee single species DNA the cost to the processor will be enormous. Multi-species processing plants will be a thing of the past,” said Mr Davies. “We need to consider as a society if that is what we want. I would volunteer caution in going down that route.”


Modern technology can detect the slightest traces of DNA therefore only meat from a single species could be processed in one plant if there is no degree of tolerance.


“If we want to absolutely guarantee single species DNA the cost to the processor will be enormous. Multi-species processing plants will be a thing of the past.”
Alun Davies, Wales’ farm minister

But meat adulteration, as was the case when horse was marketed as beef, was is a criminal act, added Mr Davies. “In my own view there has been clear illegality in the UK and elsewhere in the European Union,” he said. “We need to have systems in place to prevent species substitution.”


Farmers’ Union of Wales president, Emyr Jones, who took part in the debate, called for those involved in the horsemeat scandal to be jailed.


“They have harmed the beef industry tremendously,” he said. “As farmers we keep to the rules, we have rules as long as my arm, and we can live with those.”


Aberystwyth University hosted the debate because it said important questions had been raised about food authenticity and security of supply following the horsemeat crisis. The debate was chaired by Professor Wayne Powell, director of the university’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS).


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