Meat and bone meal still present in UK
UK government officials have admitted that animal feed containing meat and bone meal has been distributed across the country twelve years after it was banned due to its risk of BSE contamination, Farmers Guardian reports.
The Government’s Animal Health agency has launched an investigation into the
slip-up and is currently tracing the contaminated feed to farms and mills across
the country. Animals that have been fed on contaminated feed could face
compulsory slaughter in compliance with EU regulation.
“The materials
involved are muscle fibre, animal bone and fish bone,” read a statement on the
Defra website. “This incident relates entirely to animal feed materials and a
veterinary risk assessment is being conducted to determine if there is any risk
to animal health. There is currently no evidence of any risk to public health.”
The wheat feed, produced in Sweden, arrived into London’s Tilbury Docks
in March before being distributed to merchants and feed mills throughout the
country.
The Food Standards Agency alerted the feed industry last week
after routine samples from a feed business operator revealed traces of meat and
bone meal. Any contamination would put the Government in breach of the EU’s TSE
and animal by-products legislation that was put in place to keep diseases such
as BSE at bay.
Meat and bone meal was banned from cattle and sheep feed
in 1988 and the ban was extended to all animal feed in 1996 after it was linked
to the BSE outbreak. The epidemic reached its peak in 1992 when Britain
confirmed 36,680 new BSE cases. Surveillance is ongoing and in the first four
months of this year testing has revealed BSE in thirteen cattle and two sheep.
Related website:
Defra
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