Ministers consider beef-on-bone ban
30 January 2001
Ministers consider beef-on-bone ban
By FWi staff
T-BONE steaks could soon be banned in most of Europe if farm ministers follow the advice of scientific advisors.
Ministers gathered at the Farm Council in Brussels have agreed in principle on a ban on the vertebral column being used in the human food chain.
But it has not been decided where this will apply, and where the column would be extracted, reports the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme.
EU specialist Roger Waite of the newsletter Agra Facts speculated that it was unlikely that any beef-on-the-bone ban would affect the UK.
He said scientific and political opinion would recognise that the UK had stringent BSE checks in place which set a standard for the rest of Europe.
On Monday (29 January) farm commissioner Franz Fischler warned that the impact of BSE crisis on beef sales on the Continent was worse than thought.
Revised estimates suggest that surplus this year will amount to 800,000t – 1,000,000t, even after purchase for destruction.
Beef quotas, a calf processing scheme, and lower stocking rates for extensification premium are being considered to avoid a massive stock build-up.