May 3, 2006

UK starts beef exports to the EU this week
 

Britain will start its beef exports to the rest of the European Union May 3, marking the end of a ten-year ban imposed in 1996 during the height of mad cow crisis , according to a UK Department of Agriculture and Rural Development press release dated May 2.

Britain's beef industry saw its last full year of exports in 1995, when shipments to the bloc amounted to some 274,000 tonnes worth GBP520 million. The main market then was France.

Though schemes were in place during the EU ban to allow Britain to continue to export beef, trade was very limited.

One of the EU's main conditions for lifting the ban was for Britain to be able to report fewer than 200 infected cattle per million adult animals annually. BSE cases dropped sharply in Britain from a peak of 37,280 in 1992 to 161 in the first 10 months of 2005.

The changes now mean that live cattle born in the UK on or after Aug 1, 1996, may be exported, along with beef from cattle slaughtered on or after Jun 15, 2005. Restrictions however will remain in place for beef containing vertebral material and for beef sold on the bone.

But the process of rebuilding the multi-million-pound export industry to pre-1996 levels is expected to be slow, according to British Meat Processors Association's director Maurice McCartney, adding that it takes time to re-build relationships with overseas markets.

The Netherlands, Greece and Italy are expected to be the first major markets for British beef, with some buyers already placing orders.