This article is from page 49 of the 2008-04-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 49 JPG
CLARE farm leader Martin McMa- hon has given a qualified welcome to the EU Commission to raise the age limit at which the vertebral column must be removed from cattle from 24 to 30 months.
Speaking after the EU announce- ment, the ICMSA’s Chairperson of Beef and Cattle Committee and O’Callaghan’s welcomed the deci- sion but said that it was further rec- ognition of the substantial drop in BSE numbers and the need now to re-examine the need for certain BSE regulations.
According to McMahon the deci- sion will remove a significant cost
for meat processors and thus will enable them to boost returns to beef JET UNAS ESE
“The occurrence of BSE cases in Ireland has virtually come to an end. It is therefore very clear that the controls in animal feed are working effectively and that BSE regulations must be further reviewed to take un- necessary costs out of the system,” he said.
“Some regulations are no longer relevant or scientifically justified and are simply adding costs on farmers and the processing industry. These superfluous regulations must be taken out of the system as soon as possible.
“A clear example of this is the regu-
lation to test all cattle over 30 months for BSE. There has been a proposal at EU level for over 12 months to raise this to 42 months but ICMSA has been very disappointed with the level of progress on this issue.
“ICMSA has received a govern- ment commitment under “Towards 2016’ to increase the age limit and this commitment must now be im- plemented without delay.
“ICMSA estimates the delay to be costing Irish beef farmers €6m per annum and we stress that this is an utterly unnecessary cost at a time when beef farmers are facing other escalating input costs.”
McMahon stressed that the news must be only a first step in stripping-
out unnecessary costs for beef farm- ace
Meanwhile, supermarkets in Japan announced last week that they had removed beef products from their Shelves following the discovery of spinal columns in a consignment supplied by the US.
Spinal columns are designated as a specified risk material for bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE.
According to Daiei Inc, its 333 out- lets had beef products from the fac- tory on sale. After removing them, a notice was put up that read, “Taking customers’ concerns into considera- tion, the sale of these products from the concerned packer has been halted until an inspection proves it is safe.”