Humans safe, food agency insists

Consumers confidence dealt new blow

Special report: foot and mouth disease

Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday February 22 2001 14.01 GMT

The food standards agency last night reassured consumers that the European commission ban on the export of UK meat and dairy produce had no direct implications for human health, but there were fears that shoppers' confidence would be dented by the latest food crisis.

"There are no implications for food safety," said a spokesman for the FSA, the independent body responsible for food standards and public health. "The ban is purely on animal health grounds."

Human cases of foot and mouth disease are extremely rare. "There was one case of human foot and mouth disease in 1967 but we believe it was not food-borne. Very, very rarely a human may show symptoms of foot and mouth disease but it always arises because of close proximity to animals," the FSA added.

Tesco confirmed that the abattoir near Brentwood in Essex where the disease was detected was one of its suppliers. It said it would continue to source most of its meat from the UK.

The meat most likely to be affected is lamb. Britain imports an increasing amount of its pork, and British farmers have been unable to export beef anyway. But about 30% of British lamb is exported, and much of that could now land on the UK market.

Tim Lang, professor of food policy at Thames Valley University, said: "This is a sober reminder to consumers that farming is not producing healthy products. Why are we getting the return of a disease that had disappeared 20 years ago? Where you've got very intensive farming, you get disease."

Useful links
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Meat and livestock commission
National Farmers Union
National Pig Association