Call for young cattle exports

BONE-IN BEEF exports from younger cattle could resume early next year if the Date-Based Export Scheme can be dismantled, says the National Beef Association.

NBA export development committee chairman Keith Redpath has called on DEFRA to gain European Commission approval on exports of under-30-month beef as soon as possible.

“We have reminded Lord Whitty that the DBES does not have to be dismantled at the same time as the Over-30-Months Scheme, and there is a strong demand for bone-in cuts and manufacturing beef from continental buyers,” said Mr Redpath.

The European authorities had already reduced the UK‘s BSE risk status to moderate, in line with other EU countries, he added.

Mr Redpath said the NBA was concerned that the Department of Health continued to ignore Food Standards Agency advice that withholding beef from cattle born after July 1996 from the market could no longer be justified in cost or risk terms.

“We know that a number of individuals and organisations in Brussels have done their best to ease the restraint on over-30-month cattle in the UK, and are baffled and angry at DoH indecision.”