Beef, the staple food of the British, finds itself out of favour as a ban on its sale sweeps across UK and also the European Union
IT TOOK a total of 10 deaths for the
British government to finally acknowledge the seriousness of a threat which
was literally being shouted from the
rooftops for years. What is being
referred to here is the suspected link
between the Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease
(CJD) and bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE), - aka
mad cow disease - a malady
plaguing British cattle. Reportedly, a new strain Of QD was the
cause of the deaths and as the UK
health secretary, Stephen Dorrel,
opined, "The most likely explanation for the disorder was
exposure to the bovine disease."
This admission of the government is a complete volte face
from its earlier stand when it
had categorically stated that
British beef was safe and that it
could be eaten with confidence.
In fact, John Gummer, the then
agriculture minister, went so far
as to publicly down beef burgers.
along with his daughter in 1990,
when concern over the issue first
manifested itself. Now, however,
as the crisis deepens, government officials are acting with an unusual
alacrity to put in place several measures
to restore consumer confidence at
home, and also win back those markets
in countries which have suddenly developed cold feet about importing British
beef.
Goading them into action is the
hardest slap of all - the European
Union (EU) ban on British cattle and all
its by-products. The ban raises a huge
question mark on the British beef
industry, valued at us $6.5 million, and
could, spell catastrophe for farmers. The
death-knell has already been sounded
for nearly 4.6 million British cattle as
plans are being drawn up to slaughter
them. over a period of 5-6 years. EU is
expected to contribute 70 pet cent of the
cost of destroying the cattle while the
rest will be met by UK. The prospect of
mass slaughter has led to speculations
on how it could affect the dairy industry
as a whole. The industry engages nearly
12,000 to 15,000 people for processing
cheese, butter and milk powder. And
shortage of fresh milk supplies could see it dose shop. The ban has other ramifications as well.
In the first place, it has meant an
enormous loss of face for the UK. After
all, the government was warned before-
hand, as far back as in the late '80s,
about the dangers Of BSE crossing the
species barrier and affecting humans.
But it chose to act indifferently until it
was too late. And even when the crisis
broke out, it failed to act decisively.
Paddy Ashdown, leader of the Liberal
Democrat Party was scathing in his
attack. Said Ashdown, "The dithering,
the indecisiveness and the lack of any
firm policy... has been catastrophic to
trust in the government.and terribly
damaging to the livelihoods of tens of
thousands in the industry." The crisis
has had its undertones reaching even
the World Health Organization (WHO)
which convened a special meeting on
April 2-3 at Geneva. Mounting global
concern on the link between BSE and
CJD, which is essentially a fatal brain
disorder, had triggered off the meeting.
Said Hiroshi Nakajima, director, wHo,
"The possible link between BSE and
QD or its variant once again raises
concern about the ability of an infectious agent to cross the barrier between
animal and man."
Secondly, the option of slaughtering
the cattle, especially those which are
aged, is a difficult one. Killing cattle is
going to cost the government
heavily and there is the concomitant issue of compensation
to the -farmers. Yet another
dilemma facing the government
is the forthcoming elections
sometime next year. New taxes
to recover the money lost in the
current imbroglio may not win
support for the ruling party during the crucial race to the seat of
power.Further, the plan to
cull is seen more as a
face-saving measure for the
government. The symbolic
gesture could reveal that it is
finally doing something instead
of just acting as a mere spectator. Concedes Dorrel, "The
argument over beef has moved on. The question now is consumer confidence. It's one thing to have 'a safe product; it's
another to command confidence in the
marketplace."
The decision to cull has, however,
benefited the poultry sector. As consumers all over UK avoided beef, their
staple food for decades, the price of
poultry shot up by 12 per cent in the last
week of Marchas it became the safer
alternative. Share prices of the dairy
industry, came down as the beef ban
became imminent. The poultry industry
is now gearing up to meet the extra consumer demand. The government's decision to ban all uses of animal protein in
feed to pigs and poultry has set off
another demand for non-animal
proteins. This could result in an increase
of prices of such alternatives like
fishmeal and soyabean and also energy-rich cereals like wheat and barley.
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