Union calls for cut in testing bureaucracy

THE great weight of regulation and bureaucracy introduced during the height of the BSE crisis continues to trouble NFU Scotland, which this week responded to the latest proposed Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies Regulations.

One proposal to which the union has expressed its strong opposition is that fallen sheep could be tested without the knowledge of the owner.

Union vice-president Nigel Miller said it was unacceptable that the Scottish Government intended to sample fallen sheep, via fallen stock collectors, without the owners' permission.

His concern was that when such surveillance produced positive results, it could change the disease status of a flock and trigger significant controls and possibly slaughter.

On the wider issue of TSE testing, Miller said: "The dramatic decline in cases of BSE in cattle and scrapie in sheep is good news for Scottish livestock. Unfortunately, many of the controls associated with testing and surveillance still place a disproportionate level of cost and logistical problems on our farms and abattoirs when compared to the risk that these diseases now pose."

He called for assistance from both the Scottish Government and Westminster in getting the issue back on the debating table so that recognition could be given to the significant progress made in the control of TSEs and the current low incidence.

Miller said one simple step would be the alignment of the age at which cattle require testing for BSE when entering the food chain, and the age at which the animal's carcass must have its spinal cord removed.

"The testing requirement kicks in at 48 months of age, while animals over 30 months need vertebral column removal, adding cost."

He also highlighted the continued EU requirement to split older sheep carcasses to remove spinal cord. "The cost that places on our industry is unnecessary, especially when scientists have recognised that any risk of BSE being harboured in sheep is virtually non-existent."