NPA urge for tighter controls

By Peter Crichton

It is six weeks since foot-and-mouth disease was diagnosed in the UK.

Since then, the number of confirmed cases has risen to almost 800 with further outbreaks in Eire, France and Holland.

Over half a million animals have been slaughtered leaving a further 300,000 awaiting slaughter, and MAFF vets have admitted it is hard to predict when the epidemic will peak.

This is contrary to the MAFF statement made in early March that outbreaks had peaked and the disease was under control.

Press speculation has indicated that the Government feels the most likely source of the virus was imported meat which subsequently found its way into the food chain. At the time of writing no hard facts have been produced to back up this claim but trade sources believe this is the most likely scenario.

As a result there have been vociferous calls from the NPA for an urgent tightening of the controls protecting the UK from illegal meat imports.

NFU president Ben Gill said that checks on both travellers bringing in meat for personal consumption and commercial food imports must be stepped up at ports, airports and other borders.

The NPA is claiming that evidence of the discovery of spinal tissues in beef consignments recently is evidence that insufficient import checking procedures are occurring.

In mid-March Britain imported the equivalent of 49,000 live pigs from Holland alone and Ben Gill has said that British farming has been paralysed by illegal meat imports.

Swill feeders are also under pressure because of suggestions that FMD originated on Bobby Waughs Heddon-on-the-Wall pig unit.

However, Mr Waugh has stated that his feed was processed on a neighbours farm who also fed swill to his pigs and even though his neighbours pigs were slaughtered as dangerous contacts they did not test positive to foot-and-mouth.

UK producers are fearful of a knee jerk reaction following the Agriculture Minister Nick Browns suggestion that swill feeding should be banned.

MAFF has introduced a consultation paper proposing a ban on swill feeding and is looking for industry response to their draft order, not later than 10 April.

Clause 6 of their consultation proposals considers on whether or not to include the feeding of catering waste to pigs. NPA chairman James Black has stated that if such catering waste included any material linked to illegal imports of contaminated meat there was a real possibility of infected material being transmitted from landfill sites to farm livestock.

MAFF is also considering a total ban on the feeding of any catering waste, which could rule out the use of huge quantities of waste materials including bakery by-products, biscuits, yogurts, brewers grains, liquid feed industry by-products and vegetable waste.

UK pig industry leaders fear that a Draconian ban on the use of non-meat by-products could greatly add to feed costs at a time when producers are under great financial pressure and also add to health and disposal problems at landfill sites.

• Peter Crichton is a Suffolk-based pig farmer offering independent valuation and consultancy services to the UK pig industry