Bone-beef ban in balance again
Bone-beef ban in balance again
CELEBRATIONS at MAFFs decision to end the beef-on-the-bone ban could be short-lived if draft legislation being passed through Brussels wins ministerial approval at next weeks farm council.
As part of food commissioner David Byrnes plan for EU-wide controls on specified risk materials, (SRMs), it is intended to place different member states in different categories, depending on the risk of BSE.
The UK and Portugal will be placed in category 4, "high incidence of BSE", with the strictest controls on SRMs.
But, according to the latest texts circulating in Brussels, that will mean removing vertebral column, as well as brain, eyes, spinal cord, tonsils, thymus, spleen, intestines and dorsal root ganglia from the feed chain.
"That would automatically rule out T-bone steaks and re-instate the beef-on-the-bone ban," said Marie Hunter from the NFUs Brussels office.
The NFU is also concerned that the text calls for the removal of entire sheep intestines in high-risk countries, with damaging knock-on effects for sausage makers.
The new rules are timetabled to come into force on Mar 31, 2000.
• The case against Scottish beef-on-the-bone rebel Jim Sutherland has been dropped after an appeal by his lawyers arguing that he had no case to answer.
After the case before three appeal court judges at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, the Crown renounced all rights to prosecute the matter any further. It said it would instruct the Procurator Fiscal to that effect.
Mr Sutherland was charged with serving beef-on-the-bone almost two years ago at his Carfraemill hotel in the Borders at a "prohibition dinner" attended by 170 farmers.