December 20, 2007

UK's agri-ministry found guilty of maladministration over pig swill ban

After a five-year investigation, the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was found guilty of maladministration of pig swill processing industry at the time of the 2001 foot-and-mouth-disease outbreak.

The GBP40 million (55 million euros) verdict was passed by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Ann Abraham.

Her decision not to grant compensation to the 62 farmers who lost their livelihoods on account of the ban has been described as "defying logic" by the Association of Swill Users (ASU).

Alex McGaw, spokesman for the ASU, said the Ombudsman had "agreed with the farmers' claims that those who enforced the ban did not consider the consequent impact it would have on farmers." He said the organisation would continue their campaign to gain compensation for the farmers.

Whether pig swill was implicated in the 2001 epidemic is still not clear. What is certain is that the ban on swill feeding has generated an extra 1.7 million tonnes of waste.

The Ombudsman justified her ruling stating that the Ministers who denied compensation at the time of introduction of the ban "did not take the full facts into account" which amounts now to a case of clear maladministration.

She maintained further that during the epidemic "some steps were not taken as they should have been", but her decision to decline compensation was "inevitable" in light of the circumstances at the time.