DOWNRIGHT carelessness on the part of farmers when disposing of cows born before August 1996 could threaten the continuation of beef exports to mainland Europe, according to the National Beef Association.
Exports of beef resumed in May 2006, but one of the provisos was that no beef from animals born before August 1996 would be allowed to enter the food chain. These animals should be processed through the Older Cattle Disposal Scheme (OCDS) and rendere
d into meat-and-bone meal to be incinerated.
Exports have been building up since last May, but the trade has mostly been in cow beef, and Scotland still has a considerable way to go before it regains a market that was formerly worth more than £120 million a year.
And the market could soon be closed once more, according to Duff Burrell, the chairman of the National Beef Association.
He said: "Despite repeated advice that the rule was being broken, the number of OCDS cattle turning up at abattoirs is increasing, rather than decreasing. With this comes the possibility of a hostile, and unwelcome, EU response.
"It is amazing that up to six pre-August 1996 cattle each week - some 250 since last May - are still being discovered by the check system in place at commercial abattoirs. The European Commission has already been alerted, because one carcase entered the food system towards the end of last year. UK traders were embarrassed by the huge and expensive recall that had to be set in operation."
The number of incidents in Scotland has been very small, but plants in Devon and Northern Ireland had licences temporarily suspended until the Food Standards Agency was satisfied that the checking system was sufficiently stringent.
According to the National Beef Association the European Commission is to send veterinary inspector to the UK in March to investigate export procedures.
The handling and processing of older cattle will be a priority for the team from Brussels.
Burrell said: "The precarious UK beef industry cannot afford to risk the chance of a hostile report and another export shutdown."
The original export ban was imposed because of the perceived risk of BSE in UK cattle entering the human food chain and causing variant CJD. Politics also played a part in the debacle and many argued that the ban could have been lifted far sooner than it was. Some EU member states would be more than happy to see the ban re-imposed.
Burrell added: "Our advice to everyone who keeps cows is to help the industry and avoid any future sanctions by sorting through their cattle passports immediately and putting those relating to pre-August 1996 in a separate drawer with a red sticker.
"Around 130,000 cows are expected to go through the OCDS this year. Sending the right cow, with the right passport, to the correct abattoir is the first and most important element of the UK's defence system against the possibility of error.
"Breeders, especially those who have already made this calamitous error, must take full responsibility and make sure no more potentially disastrous mistakes are made. The number of cows turning up at the wrong plant must come down."
