German beef contaminated again
3 April 2001
German beef contaminated again
by FWi staff
FARMERS leader Ben Gill called for an immediate export ban on German beef, after yet more carcasses entered Britain with spinal cord still attached.
Mr Gill, president of the National Farmers Union, said: We have well and truly reached the end of our tether. The time for words has gone. We need action.
The latest case the seventh since the start of the year was found in two German forequarters at Anglo-Dutch Meats cutting hall in Eastbourne, Sussex.
The beef was part of a consignment of 203 forequarters which was sent to Britain from Fleischzentrum Wilhelmshaven, north Germany.
The infringement follows the introduction last October of European Union rules to reduce the risk of BSE by banning specified risk material.
The rules require the removal of a range of offals, bones and nervous tissues.
German shipments to the UK have been subject to 100% inspection by the Meat Hygiene Service since Jan 29, following earlier lapses by German abattoirs.
Mr Gill has written to European Union food safety commissioner David Byrne to press the case for a ban on German beef.
He said: The commission had no compunction in placing a ban on British beef all those years ago it should show the same vigour now.
- Anger at spinal cord in beef imports, FWi, 22 March 2001
- Food agency hits out at German BSE, 30 January 2001
- Germany tightens meat inspection, FWi, 19 January 2001