Germany isolated over beef exports


06 August 1999


Germany isolated over beef exports

By Vicky Houchin and Johann Tasker

COUNTRIES around the world appear increasingly prepared to accept exports of British beef, despite Germanys continuing refusal to lift its ban on shipments.

Only Russia has joined Germany in specifically refusing to accept imports – but no British beef was sold there in the seven years before the export ban anyway.

Neither Britain, nor the European Union, is willing to bring action against Russia, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

But not a single tonne of British beef has been delivered to Russia through official channels since 1989, it reports a British government representative as saying.

France, which earlier this week had reportedly refused to accept imports, is expected to give the go-ahead to receive shipments later this summer.

The move means Germany is increasingly isolated in Europe as more and more countries finally say British beef is safe three years after the BSE crisis.

Despite the small size of the German beef market, the fear had been that Britains prospects of exporting beef elsewhere could have been damaged.

But almost every other European country is ready to receive British beef, according to a Foreign Office report sent to the Meat and Livestock Commission.

The Netherlands and Italy – the only two countries yet to confirm they will accept shipments – are expected to give the go-ahead within the next few weeks.

Support for British beef has also grown in other countries since the European Union lifted the world-wide ban on British beef last Sunday (1 August).

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Government said it was already processing applications to import English and Irish beef.

“Arrangements have been made with the UK for it to provide us with regular information on their control matters,” he told Farmers Weekly.

Every consignment of beef which leaves Britain now the three-year ban is lifted will be accompanied by a document certifying the meat is free from BSE.

A spokesman from the Spanish Embassy said his country, too, had no problem in accepting British beef, as long as it met stringent requirements.

“We have the same position as the rest of Europe,” he said.

Spanish consumers had received assurances and were confident that British beef is now free from BSE, the spokesman added.

The British High Commission in Canberra is expected to announce within the next week that beef products banned since BSE can now be shipped to Australia.

Debbie Gee, director of corporate communications at the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture, said it would be unusual to import beef from Britain.

But if British beef was to be imported it would be treated no different from any other imported products, she added.

“It is not a question of whether we would start importing [beef] again, seeing as we havent imported it in the past,” she said.

South Africa, which once imported 27,000 tonnes of beef a year, is expected to be one of the first countries to resume taking shipments in the coming weeks.

Germanys stance suffered another embarrassment today when the man who represents more than 50,000 European butchers declared British beef safe.

Frankfurt-born Theo Wershoven, secretary-general of the International Butchers Federation, described his countrys refusal to import British beef as “hysterical”.

Mr Wershoven, a former head of the 21,000-strong German butchers federation, has seen the measures put into place by Britain to ensure beef is safe.

His story appears in earlier editions of The Times today (Friday) which says that Mr Wershoven admits to enjoying delicious meals of British roast beef.

“I consider it of the highest quality and I am more than happy to choose it in a restaurant,” he is quoted as saying.”

Mr Weshoven, who visited Britain earlier this year, urged the Meat and Livestock Commission to persevere with its export plans.

Germany, which imported no more than 1600 tonnes of British beef in the year before BSE, will resume imports once it sees that other European countries are doing so, he said.

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