FSA pushes for BSE check-up on sheep

The Food Standards Agency is calling for urgent tests to ensure the UK's flock of 40 million sheep are not carrying BSE.

The agency also wants a ban on cannibalistic feeding methods for all farm animals.

Although cattle cannibalism was outlawed in 1996 when the Government accepted BSE had spread through feeding infected meat to herds, an FSA spokeswoman said the Government's advisors on BSE had decided there was no need to extend the ban to other animals.

But the FSA feels current uncertainty about how BSE is transmitted demands a more cautious approach. It fears cannibalism could create new strains of the disease in other animals that would be difficult to detect before becoming widespread.

It is particularly anxious to determine whether sheep are carrying BSE, because tests have suggested that if they do the entire animal will be affected, not just the spinal cord, as in cattle. The agency warned that current safeguards on sheep would not be adequate to control any outbreaks. More research was needed to discover whether cattle and sheep could carry BSE without showing symptoms, and whether pigs and poultry could harbour the disease after eating contaminated feed.

The FSA is also pushing for tougher controls on feed throughout Europe, and for the Government to resist industry requests to feed pig meat and bone meal to chickens.

It also recommended tests to find out whether milk could transmit BSE, better tests for the disease in mechanically-recovered meat, and tests to determine the safety of sheep's guts used for sausages.

by Angela Frewin