BSE shock for NI export hopes
9 February 2001
BSE shock for NI export hopes
By FWi staff
ATTEMPTS by farmers in Northern Ireland to secure a relaxation of beef export restrictions have been damaged by higher-than-expected BSE figures.
A mass screening programme of cattle by Department of Agriculture vets detected 54 cases out of 2500 animals tested on farms for disease.
Figures compare with 22 reported cases in Northern Ireland last year and just six the previous year.
Tests were carried out on high-risk casualty animals aged over 30 months. Under BSE controls, cattle of this age would not enter the food chain.
The infected animals could have been fed on meat and bonemeal – widely believed to be the source of the disease – before it was banned.
The Northern Ireland agriculture department had been pushing for the province to be granted a “low incidence” status within the UK.
If secured, Northern Ireland would no longer have had to export cattle through the date-based export scheme, with its stringent requirements.
But now the agriculture department has had to inform the EU that BSE levels in the province are higher than previously thought.
Northern Ireland agriculture minister Brid Rodgers said the results were “not entirely surprising” in view of the sample, and sought to reassure consumers.
She said: “My department targeted the highest-risk group of cattle – old, sick animals. None of them would have entered the human food chain.
“Since this was a high-risk sample, it should not be assumed that the level of BSE we found was representative of the overall picture.”
Ms Rodgers pledged that she would press on with Northern Irelands bid to be granted low-incidence status “as soon as the time is right”.
Ulster Farmers Union president Douglas Rowe said the results were a disappointment, but insisted the provinces rigorous controls were the toughest in Europe.
“The safeguards in our local industry will continue to protect consumers and provide a blueprint for other European countries who are trying to match our controls.”