Beef export scheme wording stands

10 July 1998

Beef export scheme wording stands

PROBLEMS encountered with the EU Commissions wording of the date-based beef export scheme are not, as many industry leaders hoped, minor errors that crept in at the last minute during the translation of the proposal from French to English.

According to farm minister Jack Cunningham, the two major areas of concern for the UK government that all cattle bones will have to be classified as specified risk material and that exports cannot resume until the cull of all offspring of BSE cases is complete appeared in the proposals at the insistence of commission officials, believed to be those in EU commissioner Emma Boninos consumer affairs directorate.

This week, the scheme was again presented to the EU standing veterinary committee (SVC). But, as happened when it met last month, no vote was taken. However, the commission announced that it would send inspectors to the UK later this month to assess the various BSE controls and how they fit together.