Britain to remove mad cow control rule

Britain's farm ministry said yesterday it had accepted a proposal to allow some older cattle to enter the food chain, opening the way for the removal of one of the main measures to combat the deadly mad cow disease.

The ministry said in a statement that its decision would allow new legislation to be introduced to replace the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule by a new system of testing.

There is currently an automatic ban on all older cattle from entering the human food chain.

The ministry said the new testing system was set to replace the OTM rule on November 7, although changes in export restrictions were not expected to come into force before early 2006.

The move was based on advice from the UK's Food Standards Agency.

Cattle born before August 1, 1996 will continue to be excluded from the food chain.

"It is excellent news that we will soon be able to increase our supplies of home-produced beef," UK Farm Minister Margaret Beckett said.

"We will also be working in Brussels to ensure that beef from UK cattle born on or after 1 August 1996 can be exported as soon as possible," she added.

Britain's beef export industry collapsed in 1995 following an outbreak of mad cow in British herds.

More than 140 people in Britain are thought to have died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), while up to 7.3 million animals had been slaughtered under disease control measures by the end of June 2004.