Europe raises age for BSE testing on cows by 2 years

Almost two decades have passed since Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy peaked in Scotland and more than two years have gone by since there has been a single case of the brain wasting disease found in this country.

Many BSE-related restrictions put in place back in the 1990s are still operating although yesterday an influential animal health committee in Brussels moved to raise the age at which cattle entering the food chain would require to be tested. The Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health agreed to move the testing age for BSE in cattle from 48 months to 72 months for the vast majority of member states, including the UK.

Newly appointed NFU Scotland president, Nigel Miller, welcomed the move as a "welcome step along the way to finally removing the shadow that BSE has cast over the beef sector in the UK and Europe for more than 20 years."

He pointed out that moving the current BSE testing requirements from 48 months to cattle aged 72 months had the potential to strip out costs currently associated with BSE testing cattle in abattoirs before the beef is allowed into the food chain. With the current strife on meat inspection charges, he reckoned "that must be good news for producers and processors."

Miller then expressed his disappointment that the decision only related to cattle and not to sheep.

"Given the similar dramatic improvement in any TSE risk being associated with sheep, it is extraordinary that we still have an ongoing costly requirement for older sheep carcases to be split and spinal cord removed.

"To our mind, there is little justification for this to be necessary and it puts a huge cost burden on the valuable trade in sheepmeat from older animals."