Industry hails end to bone-in ban
1 December 1999
Industry hails end to bone-in ban
By FWi staff
A MAJOR advertising campaign will be launched once bone-in beef is finally available in the shops again, the Meat and Livestock Commission has promised.
Chairman Don Curry made this pledge as industry figures reacted to the end of the two-year ban on beef on the bone.
Describing the end of the ban as “a great morale-booster for the industry and excellent news for the consumer”, Mr Curry said the MLC was standing by with posters and newspaper advertisements.
National Farmers Union president Ben Gill also welcomed the end of the ban: “This is an excellent Christmas present for farmers and consumers alike.
“The NFU has always believed the ban was flawed from the start. We have no doubt now it has been lifted people will choose beef on the bone every time.”
Jim Walker, chairman of the National Farmers Union of Scotland, said: “We are very pleased, at long last, that scientific evidence has allowed the government to lift the ban.”
He said the next target must be to persuade Europe to extend the date-based export scheme to include beef on the bone.
Tory agriculture spokesman Tim Yeo told the Commons: “I warmly welcome the statement and the very belated recognition by the government that there is no justification whatsoever for a ban on beef on the bone.”
Mr Yeo accused the government of rejecting an alternative to the ban which would have allowed consumer choice, and of costing the industry almost £200 million.
He claimed agriculture minister Nick Brown had allowed Scottish and Welsh chief medical officers a veto over the choice of English consumers, and had given France an excuse to justify its British beef ban.
Country Landowners Association president Anthony Bosanquet said: “We welcome this news, which is long overdue.
“We trust that Nick Browns announcement will put rib of beef and other on-the-bone cuts back on top of the Christmas shopping list.”
A spokeswoman for consumer watchdog the Consumers Association was pleased that the ban would remain on beef bones used in food manufacturing.
“If the consumer does not know if bones are an ingredient in a product such as baby food, that is not good for consumer choice, or food safety.”
She disagreed that the ban should have been lifted earlier: “The ban should not have been lifted until all the chief medical officers agreed.
“As far as Im aware they did not agree to lift the ban until Sunday. So the ban has certainly not been in place for too long.”
NFU Devon chairman-elect, Donald Arscott, who last Saturday staged what may have been the last beef-on-the-bone protest, welcomed the announcement.
“This is obviously good news at last. In the past when Ive felt there was light to the end of the tunnel, that lights always been blown out.
“This time its stronger and cant be blown out. But I feel sorry for the farmers whose businesses havent survived.”
- Brown lifts beef-on-bone ban, FWi, yesterday (30 November, 1999)
- Beef rebels welcome end to ban, FWi, yesterday (30 November, 1999)
- The long wait for beef on the bone, FWi, yesterday (30 November, 1999)