EU bans UK dairy's cheese

The European Union banned trade in curd cheese from a British dairy yesterday, saying food inspectors had found traces of antibiotics, dyes and detergents that made it unfit to eat.

Bowland Dairy Products, based in Lancashire in northwest England, was condemned for "serious breaches of EU food safety rules", the bloc's executive arm said.

It was the first time a single company had been sanctioned in this way for violating the bloc's strict food safety laws.

The EU acted after Britain said its own inspectors had found no evidence Bowland had used contaminated milk.

But European Commission officials said there was evidence Bowland had used raw milk containing antibiotic residues or contaminated with substances such as dyes and detergents.

The firm collected out-of-date milk from retail operations and used mouldy and contaminated cheese, including floor waste, to vacuum-pack products for sale, the officials said.

"It was agreed that all member states will ban curd cheese produced in 'Bowland Dairy Products Ltd.' from their markets, and will trace and destroy any curd cheese from this dairy that may be in circulation," the Commission said in a statement.

The ban would enter into force immediately and there would be a Commission inspection of the entire UK dairy sector in November, Commission spokesman Philip Tod told a news briefing.

"This is the first time that the Commission has had to take a safeguard measure with regard to a specific company and its failure to comply with EU food safety rules," he said.

Bowland Dairy said in a statement that it had been "the unfortunate victim of an ongoing dispute between the European Commission, UK authorities and the Food Standards Agency, on the interpretation of EU food safety regulations".

The company said it refuted the Commission's allegations and would be challenging the decision before the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg.

A spokesman said the cheese was mostly exported to Germany and Austria and was not available in Britain.

Britain, which abstained at the vote taken at the EU-25 experts' meeting, may face EU legal action for failing to stop Bowland products from reaching its markets, the Commission said.

"The Commission is also considering infringement proceedings against the UK for its lack of action on this issue," the statement said, referring to legal action at the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Mr Tod added that such action could be considered by the 25-member Commission as early as next week, at its next meeting.

Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) said there were still differences of opinion on the extent of the problem at Bowland.

"We would emphasise, most strongly, that we take these matters very seriously, and that we have taken a number of corrective measures at this company since the FVO (EU inspectors) first reported on procedures in June," the FSA said.

"In this case, there are genuine differences of views on the science behind the testing for antibiotics in milk and these have not yet been resolved," it said in a statement.

In June, EU inspectors visited Bowland premises to investigate complaints that the company was "suspected of placing on the community market a large volume of cheese and cheese curd made from raw material unfit for human consumption".