FSA hits out at German BSE controls
30 January 2001
FSA hits out at German BSE controls
By FWi staff
THE Food Standards Agency has slammed Germanys BSE controls after the discovery of another piece of spinal cord in imported German beef quarters.
FSA chairman Sir John Krebs said the latest breach, the second in a fortnight, was “unacceptable”.
“It raises questions about how effectively EU-wide BSE controls are being enforced,” he said.
Inspectors at a processing plant at Eastbourne found two inches of spinal cord in one hindquarter in a consignment of 19,000kg of beef from Oldenburg.
The meat had come into the UK through Dover on Sunday. It will be destroyed.
But the other 215 hindquarters will enter the food chain, as Meat Hygiene Service inspectors were satisfied that they were not contaminated.
The discovery follows a similar find in Northern Ireland in 41,000kg of beef imported from Germany on 18 January.
A FSA spokeswoman said UK meat hygiene inspectors have been asked to step up their inspection of imported German carcasses.
She said the agency had already expressed concerns to the German government and the EU commission after the Northern Ireland discovery.
The latest discovery has fuelled fears that German producers are trying to dump surplus stocks on to the UK market.
This follows the collapse of their home market because of BSE fears.