EU Member States have voted in favour of recognising the UK as having negligible status for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
This comes after WOAH formally reclassified the UK’s risk status to negligible in May.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said that the vote had sent a “clear signal” of the confidence international partners place in the UK’s disease monitoring, food safety, and traceability systems, while reinforcing the “safety and integrity of British beef production”.
Following the decision, the EU must now amend legislation. NFU said it expects changes to be published at the end of November, but until then, meat processors “must continue to operate under existing Controlled Risk rules”.
NFU livestock board chair David Barton commented: “This announcement delivers a much-needed boost for producers and the wider supply chain.”
The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) released a statement on its website, which read: “There’s still one more step before UK processors can take full advantage of the trade this will re-open for us. The EU must first amend its regulations and then publish the decision in the Official Journal. Once published, the decision will take immediate effect and be formally addressed to both the Member States and the UK.
“This will open up export opportunities to key European markets for high-value products such as oxtail, bones, and mechanically separated meat, which are in strong demand across the continent but not widely consumed in Britain.”
“It has been a long journey for the UK beef industry to arrive at this status and everyone involved in the industry should be proud of everything that has been done to achieve this.”
Nick Allen, BMPA
Nick Allen, BMPA chief executive, said: “This is excellent news that the whole of the UK is now recognised as negligible risk and opens up export opportunities (long closed to us) for high-value products like oxtail, mesenteric fat and mechanically separated meat, which are in strong demand across the continent but not in Britain.
“As an example, one by-product alone (mesenteric fat) could bring in around an extra £10 million a year once we are able to sell into the EU. Currently, it’s treated as a waste product, which companies must pay to have incinerated.
“It has been a long journey for the UK beef industry to arrive at this status and everyone involved in the industry should be proud of everything that has been done to achieve this.”
