September 21, 2005

UK beef industry says mad cow rule needs easing soon

The UK's National Beef Association said there was a need to quickly end the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule against mad cow disease, following the government's recent announcement that the rule would be replaced by a new system of testing by early November this year.

About 45 abattoirs across the UK have said they wanted to process beef from older animals within the next few weeks, but some could go short on supplies unless the OTM rule was quickly replaced, the association said.

In addition, the companies had invested in re-training and re-organisation to meet the cattle brain test requirements required by the government. They have also committed themselves to meeting orders placed by new customers, the association added.