Agency urges end to older beef ban

Ministers will be asked to end the current ban on beef from older cattle entering the food chain.

The board of the Food Standards Agency has agreed to recommend replacing the ban on meat from animals aged over 30 months with tests for BSE.

It backed a proposal to end the over 30-month (OTM) rule from next January at the earliest for cattle born after August 1 1996, with the prospect of complete replacement from July 2005.

The board stressed, however, that the change to testing should not start until ministers were satisfied the necessary arrangements were in place across the UK.

Under the current ban, introduced in May 1996 during the BSE crisis, meat from most cattle aged over 30-months at the time of slaughter must be destroyed.

The FSA were asked to consider a change to the over thirty month (OTM) rule because of a sharp fall in the number of cases of BSE, otherwise known as "mad cow disease", and the presence of other safeguards.

A ban on feeding meat and bone meal to farm animals will continue, as will removing material from cattle carcasses deemed as posing the highest risk of carrying BSE.

The board of the FSA decided that if ministers backed the recommendations, an independent review should be set up to monitor the testing system and report back on a monthly basis.

The OTM currently costs £360 million a year to operate. Switching to testing could cut the bill by around £60 million a year.

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