The Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) has asked the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity, Fergus Ewing, for a meeting to examine the case for Scotland to be upgraded to the highest possible BSE status.
Scotland, along with the rest of the UK, currently has a ‘controlled risk’ BSE status. However, the last confirmed BSE case in Scotland involved an animal born in 2002, in comparison to the last BSE case in Great Britain as a whole, which involved an animal born in 2009.
SAMW believes that Scotland’s ‘all-clear’ seven-year advantage should be recognised by the granting of ‘negligible risk’ BSE status for the Scotland’s livestock, instead of the country having to wait until England and Wales qualify for their upgrade in 2020.
“We have asked the Cabinet Secretary for a meeting to discuss our BSE status as soon as possible,” SAMW president, Allan Jess, said. “We believe the case for Scotland moving to ‘negligible risk’ is extremely strong, based on our BSE record, and would hope the Cabinet Secretary will support us in raising our status to the highest possible level in the shortest time possible.”
SAMW has outlined the key potential benefits a ‘negligible risk’ status would bring, which includes reputational gain from a disease-free image, the removal of obstacles when negotiating access to new markets and a trading advantage over competitors from ‘controlled risk’ countries.
Jess continued: “Scotland’s meat and livestock industry is already perceived abroad as having a clean healthy image and producing wholesome high quality produce. This image has been enhanced in recent years through our achieving of TB free status and BVD free status, resulting in significant benefits in accessing new export markets and capturing new customers in existing markets.
“While it’s difficult to place a precise financial value on the benefit to Scotland’s image of gaining the desired ‘negligible risk’ BSE status, we believe it would be substantial. The major meat export plants in Scotland, for example, have indicated that gaining ‘negligible risk’ would be a significant key to unlocking the gate to new third country opportunities.
“In seeking to address this issue with the Cabinet Secretary, therefore, SAMW is optimistic that, by working together, we can unlock some important and valuable markets to the all-round benefit of Scotland’s livestock and meat industry.”
Northern Ireland is also seeking a move to ‘negligible risk’ due to its ‘all-clear’ record.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
