July 12, 2007

EU reconsiders ban on feeding fishmeal to ruminants

The EU is considering lifting a current ban on feeding fishmeal and fish oil to ruminants after a report submitted said there is no scientific evidence that eating fishmeal would cause mad cow disease. 

Struan Stevenson a Conservative member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing Scotland, submitted the report to the EU, which highlighted the problem of 1 million tonnes of discards in EU fisheries which have to be disposed each year.  

Stevenson suggested that usage of these discards should be considered.

The UK is the largest consumer of fishmeal in the EU largely due to its extensive aquaculture sector. Other countries like Germany, France, Spain and Denmark use fishmeal for their agriculture and aquaculture sectors. Greece, Italy and the smaller Mediterranean islands rely on fishmeal for their sea bass and sea bream aquaculture.

About a third of the fishmeal consumed in the EU is fed to farmed fish; the balance is fed to pigs and poultry.

As fishmeal is rich in both essential amino acids in the form of protein, meat, milk and eggs from farm animals fed on fishmeal and oil would also gain these nutrition and would benefit humans when consumed, the report stated.

The Commission was also urged to increase scientific research into blue whiting.