THE National Beef Association said yesterday bookings should be made soon to slaughter any animals that still qualify for compensation under the Older Cattle Disposal Scheme which followed the BSE crisis of the late-1990s. The deadline for compensation is 31 December.
Back in March 1996, Stephen Dorrell, Tory health minister at the time, announced in the Commons that there was a possible link between BSE and the variant CJD in the human population.
The effect on the beef industry was catastrophic. The price of
prime cattle collapsed overnight from a healthy 227p per kg on the hook to 195p. But worse was to come with the media fanning the flames of a potential food scare: in 1998 the UK average for prime cattle plunged to a nadir of 159p per kg – current prices in Scotland are above 270p.
The government reaction in 1996 was to decree that no beef from cattle aged over 30 months should be allowed to enter the human food chain. And there was a worldwide export ban on all British beef.
Almost three years ago the regulations were relaxed, but with one proviso. No cattle born before 1 August, 1996, would ever be declared fit for human consumption, but farmers would be compensated when they sold them through the OCDS.
Yesterday, Kim Haywood, the director of the NBA, said: "It is our view that pre-August-1996-born cattle will never have any future commercial value. It is clearly in the best interest of farmers to get them booked in now for disposal."
The full article contains 267 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
