Fears of illegal trading lead to movement ban

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has this week announced that any cattle born or reared in the UK before August 1, 1996 will be limited in their movements as an extra precaution against meat from these older animals entering the food chain.

These cattle will be prevented from moving from their holdings without being granted an individual movement licence by officials.

However, no licences will be granted to move these cattle to markets or through dealers until further notice.

The department is now writing to the estimated 18,000 keepers with animals of this age to inform them of the new measures.

Specific details of the nature of the illegal trading which prompted the ban have yet to be released.

Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said: “I regret that due to what appears to be illegal activity by a few individuals, this has been necessary. The industry has worked hard over the years to ensure British beef regained the good reputation it deserves, both at home and abroad.

“We want to maintain this reputation, so it’s sensible to introduce this extra safeguard. It shouldn’t have much impact on most cattle keepers, but it will give us additional confidence that these animals don’t enter the food chain.”

The ban comes on top of already stringent controls to prevent meat from these animals entering the food chain

It is currently illegal to slaughter pre-1996 animals for food, and specified risk material (SRM) such as brain and spinal cord is removed from all cattle after slaughter. In addition, any cattle aged over 48 months are tested for BSE after slaughter and only those that test negative are allowed into the food chain.

A spokesman for Defra said that in practice these restrictions were likely to affect a relatively small number of farmers around the country.

There is an estimated 53,000 cattle spread across some 18,190 holdings in the UK that were born or reared in the UK before August 1996.

In total around 34,000 of these reside in England and this compares with a total cattle population in Great Britain of approximately nine million.

Defra’s statisticians say that fewer than one per cent of holdings in the UK have more than 20 cattle that fall into this category.

The number of pre-August 1996 cattle is declining steadily in line with expectations, a spokesman for Defra said.

BVA BACKS MEASURES

The move has been welcomed by the British Veterinary Associa- tion.

BVA president Harvey Locke said: “It is unfortunate that the illegal activities of a few individuals have caused Defra to introduce these additional measures, but we strongly welcome the initiative.

“BSE had a devastating effect on the UK’s livestock industry, but it has been successfully brought under control by strict adherence to the legislation.”