'Farmers and cattle dealers are breaking rules designed to protect people contracting BSE (vCJD)through their food 25 years after the crisis started, the government has revealed.
Ministers have introduced further restrictions against moving older cattle off farms amid investigations into reports of illegal trading. These have included a Cumbrian cattle dealer sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for sending an overage animal to be slaughtered for human consumption.
Infected meat has been blamed for most of the 170 deaths (and this figure is still rising in 2011) from variant CJD, the human form of BSE, in the UK - a handful have been caused by contaminated blood products - and a battery of rules are meant to protect consumers. These include not slaughtering for food any cattle born before August 1996, testing any slaughtered animals over four years old for BSE, and banning from food parts of animals including brain & spinal cord.
The agricultural minister, Jim Paice, said illegal activity by a few individuals made the extra restrictions necessary. "The industry has worked hard over the years to ensure British beef regained the good reputation it deserves, both at home & abroad.
"We want to maintain this reputation, so it's sensible to introduce this extra safeguard. It should'nt have much impact on most cattle keepers, but it will give us additional confidence that these animals don't enter the food chain"
There are 53,000 cattle born or reared in the UK before August 1996, from a population of 9m. Most are thought to be kept for breeding or pets. No cattle born or reared before August 1996 will be allowed to move from their holdings without an individual licence, and no licences will be granted to move overage animals to markets or through dealers. This should make it more difficult for owners to get the cattle illegally into the food chain.
The Food Standards Agency says there is a very low safety risk from eating meat or meat products from older cattle because of controls at slaughterhouses.
article by James Meikle,guardian.co.uk 8.3.11
Many questions now remain regarding the safety of British beef:
1.How many overage cattle have entered the food chain born before August 1996?
2.Could this explain why people as young as 25 years of age are still developing the human BSE in 2011?
3.Can the meat from the overage cattle that have illegally enetered the food chain be traced?
4.Is it possible that these illegally entered cattle could been used for vaccinations?
5.How long has this practice been going on, the agricultural minister is admitting that stricter rules are to be put in place but how can the consumer be convinced, if their are irresponsible cattle dealers how will they be monitored?
6.The Cumbrian farmer that has been sent to jail, were his animals infected with BSE and did they enter the food chain, I think the British public have the right to be know, where did these animals end up on the shelves of Asda, Sainsbury's?
25 years on and have we learned any lessons from the BSE crisis it seems not, these irresponsible cattle dealers & farmers are playing with peoples lives. We must have openness, honesty & transparency from our government if we are ever to get rid of BSE.