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Critics have a bone to pick with Brown over beef

- 01 December 1998
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01 December 1998

Critics have a bone to pick with Brown over beef

By Johann Tasker

THE Government faced renewed calls to speed up the lifting of the ban on beef on the bone today after new findings showed that any health risk from eating it had reduced considerably.

The latest report from the Governments scientific advisors revealed that any risk from beef on the bone had diminished in line with the fall in the incidence of BSE in cattle.

Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo accused Nick Brown of missing the opportunity to announce the end of the ban which was imposed almost a year ago.

“Nick Brown has the power, but will not take the responsibility,” Mr Yeo told listeners at the Smithfield Show.

The Governments scientists had stated that all the minister need do is make the public aware of the risks involved in eating beef on the bone and allow them to make their own decisions, he added.

Mr Yeo said the European Commission had made it clear that they did not require the Government to enforce the ban.

“The fact that it remains in place is Nick Browns decision and his alone,” he said.

Mr Brown said that he would like to lift the ban, but would first have to consult other Government departments and the European Commission before he could make an announcement.

Mr Brown declined to comment on recent speculation that T-bone steak and ribs of beef could be back on the nations dinnerplates in time for Christmas. He said only that he hoped to be in a position to make a statement in the near future.

NFU president Ben Gill said that this weeks findings meant the ban should be lifted as soon as possible.

“We now have further scientific justification for the beef on the bone ban to be removed,” he said. “We call on the Government to make a speedy decision which will allow consumers to make an informed choice.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that butchers representatives wrote to the Prime Minister last week in an attempt to persuade him to ask Mr Brown to lift the ban when he visited the Smithfield Show on Monday.

“An early lifting of the beef on the bone ban, coming hot on the heels of the European decision on exports, will restore public confidence in British beef,” said Jim Laird, president of the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders.

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