Pigs and Poultry

[Guest guest]

RE: Times of London: 11/13/98

November 13 1998 BRITAIN

Pig feed rules may ban use of animal remains

BY MICHAEL HORNSBY, AGRICULTURE CORRESPONDENT

TIGHTER controls on feed for pigs and poultry were proposed by the

Government yesterday to prevent the possible recycling of disease.

The proposals would ban the use of the remains of any mammals in pig

swill and would stop pig slaughterhouse waste and petfood waste being

fed to pigs.

The Government is also consulting on whether to continue allowing

catering waste containing pig or poultry material to be fed to pigs and

poultry.

Jeff Rooker, the Food Safety Minister, said the measures would

strengthen safeguards on the disposal of animal waste. " We want to make

sure that all those involved in the processing and disposal of animal

waste understand their responsibilities. "

New construction and hygiene standards are being proposed for knackers'

yards, where injured livestock are destroyed. The measures reflect

heightened concern about animal feeding practices since the emergence of

BSE, particularly feeding animals the remains of their own species.

BSE is thought to have passed to cattle in feed containing the remains

of sheep infected with scrapie, and then to have been spread through the

cattle herd in meat and bonemeal made from cattle remains. Such feed has

been banned for cattle and sheep since 1988.

Nigel Rowe, a pig farmer in Essex and vice-chairman of the National

Farmers' Union's pig committee, said: " I don't think that these measures

will add to our costs or cause any great problems, as most pig farmers

will be complying with them already. "

The Government called on sheep farmers yesterday to co-operate in a

survey to establish the incidence of scrapie, a disease similar to BSE.

About 500 cases of scrapie, a notifiable disease, are confirmed each

year but it is suspected that the true incidence of the disease may be

up to ten times higher.

Scrapie has existed for centuries without causing people known harm, but

scientists are worried that BSE may have passed from cattle to sheep and

be disguised as scrapie.

The European Commission called yesterday for a ban on the use of four

antibiotics in animal feed. The Commission said it was acting on

evidence that the antiobiotics, used mainly as growth promoters in pigs

and poultry, may be linked to growing human resistance to the drugs.

The NFU said it had seen no hard evidence of such a link and feared that

a ban would jeopardise the welfare of pigs and poultry.