Farmers blame smuggling for crisis

5 April 2001



Farmers blame smuggling for crisis

By Alistair Driver

CONTROLS against illegal meat imports, blamed for causing foot-and-mouth disease, are seriously deficient, claims the Association of Port Health Authorities.

Its warnings have led the National Pig Association (NPA) to accuse the government of failing to protect the country from contaminated meat imports.

The Association of Port Health Authorities warned last month that illegal meat was entering the country hidden in fruit and vegetable containers.

Concerns have also been raised about imports arriving through airports.

NPA vice-chairman Hugh Crabtree said: “The Association of Port Health Authorities is quite clear that the regulations encourage concealment.

“We do not blame the restaurants, we blame the government which is responsible for allowing the virus into the country in the first place.”

It is believed that contaminated scraps of imported meat collected from restaurants and fed to British pigs as swill triggered the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Pigswill is now likely to be banned. Mr Crabtree said: “The government has a clear duty of care to ensure the existing and adequate regulations are adhered to.

“This duty has been ignored twice in 12 months, leading directly to two major outbreaks of notifiable disease, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth.

“Only one word describes the governments part in this: negligent.”

Mr Crabtree said the whole country had suffered from this negligence and said responsible UK farmers expected a responsible government.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, which aims to ensure high standards of environmental health, has called for more research into the problem.

It also wants more funding for the Port Heath Authorities.

John Clements, senior environmental health officer of the imported food office at Heathrow Airport, said illegal imports were difficult to trace.

“Anything which is labelled fruit and vegetables can be moved from the airport and up in neighbouring boroughs before we even know it.”