Inside U.K.

Britons Have a Bone To Pick With New Beef Regulation

By STEVE HILL

Anger is on the menu in Britain after the government's recent decision to ban the sale of beef on the bone.

The move, agreed on before Christmas, prevents butchers from selling such traditional delights as T-bone steaks, bone marrow (often used in old-style soups and stews), ox tails (the main ingredient in a famous English soup and also eaten in their own right) and rib of beef, because of new worries over food safety.

More than 20 Britons have now died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the human form of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), which is a brain disease affecting cows.

It is thought that people who have died from CJD contracted the illness as a direct result of eating contaminated meat.

And it is believed that cattle themselves were infected after eating food containing the remains of sheep that died from the fatal brain disease scrapie.

Confused, bewildered and slightly alarmed? Join millions of Britons for whom a trip these days to the butcher's or to the meat section of their local supermarket almost carries a health safety warning.

It's enough to convert the most dedicated carnivore into a lentil-loving vegetarian, and there was for a while a slight dip in meat sales.

But the "Is beef safe or not?" saga has been going on for so long that most people barely give it a second thought. A big majority continues to eat such traditional dishes as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding or steak and kidney pie.

After the possible link between BSE and CJD was first mooted in 1996 by the Conservative government of John Major, beef prices dropped sharply because of public concerns.

The mass slaughter of older cattle ― many of which were perfectly healthy ― and introduction of stringent health regulations in relation to the slaughter of cows and their feed were widely felt to have rid the British beef industry of the problem.

But the latest regulations ― rushed into law because research revealed that the spinal cord nerves and bone marrow of cattle could carry the infective agent associated with BSE ― show that the problem has not been solved just yet.

Outlawing the sale of beef on the bone has angered farmers, many of whom were already struggling to make ends meet, and sparked protest rallies up and down the country.

And it has also been greeted with dismay by many restaurateurs and butchers, particularly those that specialize in supplying rib of beef and T-bone steaks.

One butcher in Hampshire, southern England, openly defied the government by continuing to sell beef on the bone.

Paul Robinson, a fourth-generation butcher, cheerfully supplied his customers with their Christmas rib of beef.

He is unlikely to face prosecution, even though butchers found selling beef on the bone are liable for a £5,000 (¥1,088,000) fine and/or six months in prison.

Trading standards officers, the people charged with ensuring that laws are enforced, have admitted it would be virtually impossible to run checks on every butcher's shop throughout the country and have indicated that only one or two high-profile prosecutions may follow.

While British beef farmers wonder how on earth they can stay in business, cheap continental beef continues to be imported.

Jack Cunningham, the agricultural minister, has banned the import of beef that does not meet the safety standards required of British beef.

But the three major exporters of beef to Britain ― Ireland, France and the Netherlands ― are unaffected because their meat conforms to the code.

Anyone wondering why people still eat beef at all may like to chew over this latest bit of news.

McDonald's and Burger King, the world's two biggest burger chains, have both just announced major expansion plans in Britain.

McDonald's intends to open a string of new restaurants this year, creating 5,000 jobs, mainly part-time. And Burger King is to open 55 new outlets here in 1998.

Beef, it seems, in burgers, stews, pies or good old-fashioned roast joints, is here to stay.

Shukan ST: Jan. 23, 1998

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