Allister raises concerns about beef imports
17 May 2006
During a debate in the Strasbourg Parliament on the end of the beef ban and new measures to deal with TSE, DUP MEP Jim Allister raised concerns about how far beef imports into the EU will be subjected to enforceable checks on what was fed to the cattle whose meat is finding its way into Europe.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
"Having experienced not just the trauma of BSE, but the very protracted and painful recovery till recently we secured the return of British beef exports, none of us want to see such happen again. Thus, I support the essence of the TSE structures endorsed in this report.
I wish to raise one concern, however, in the context of beef imports into the EU. It is suggested, correctly, that we legislate for acceptable feeding regimes for the cattle giving rise to such imports, but how do we police those regimes so that the consumer can be truly satisfied that cheaper imports are indeed the product of the same tough control as indigenous produce? We must not only lay down the same standards for imported produce as domestic produce but we must be sure that those standards are demonstrably met. Perhaps the Commission would like to respond on that issue."
