BSE meat risk warning

Licensed abattoirs are subject to stringent checks

British meat eaters are being warned that BSE-infected beef could still be getting into the food chain.

The head of the Food Standards Agency, Sir John Krebs, said farmers might be passing on meat which had not been subject to stringent safety checks.

If there's any risk at all, then that loophole must be closed

British Meat Federation director Peter Scott

Under existing rules, beef is exempt from strict controls if it is killed on a farm or at an unlicensed abattoir for the owner's consumption.

But Sir John told BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme that checks were needed to ensure this meat was not ending up on other dinner plates.

No guarantees

It is illegal to sell meat from these sources, and consumers in rural areas have been warned to think twice about buying cheap meat from unchecked courses.

"The concern is perhaps some of this meat is being passed on or sold on for wider consumption," said Sir John.

Tests were carried out on brain tissue from infected cattle

Cattle aged over 30 months are deemed unfit for human consumption, but that does not apply to meat from a private kill.

Sir John said there was also no way of ensuring that parts such as brains and spinal tissues - regarded as the most dangerous part of an infected animal - had been properly removed.

"That's precisely why we're concerned about both the extent to which this goes on and the possibility that meat or meat products from private kills might get into the wider food chain," he said.

End exemptions

Jill Newt, chairman of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons advisory group, said there was no doubt that meat from private kills was entering the food chain.

"I think consumers should be aware that anyone offering them cheap meat should get a second look at where that animal was killed and where that meat was cut up," she told Farming Today.

Peter Scott, director of the British Meat Federation, which represents abattoirs, called for the end of the exemptions for privately killed animals.

"This is a problem for the Food Standards Agency and it's a dilemma which they, and before them Maff, have faced for a number of years," he said.

"We believe, in this day and age, if there's any risk at all, then that loophole must be closed."

A report into the BSE crisis, handed in to the government, last week, is expected to be made public at the end of the month.