New clash with Europe looms over ban on lamb

A proposed increase in restrictions on sheep products by the EU threatens the livelihoods of thousands of British farmers

Britain is facing another trade war with Europe over proposals to ban certain lamb products, such as traditional chops and sausages, because of the small risk of mad-cow disease crossing over into sheep.

The livelihoods of British farmers are under threat from the proposed legislation, which singles out the UK for an increase in restrictions on the cuts of meat which can be sold for human consumption.

The European Commission wants to increase restrictions on the sale of sheep offal as part of a raft of new measures designed to address safety concerns which have yet to be proven. If implemented, the proposals would extend the existing ban in Britain on sheep brain, spinal cord and spleen to intestines and back bones. This would effectively outlaw sausage casings made from sheep gut and meat-on-the-bone cuts such as the Barnsley and chump chop.

Although farming leaders and the Government have vowed to try and postpone the proposals to prevent them becoming European law, there is private consternation about raising fears over BSE in sheep at a time when the industry is suffering the biggest crisis in living memory.

A ban on sheep vertebrae and intestines would substantially reduce the meagre profit margins of farmers, as well as risking a consumer scare. Some analysts suggest that such a ban would see the cost of sheep meat rising to that of a delicacy on a par with venison.

The Scientific Steering Committee of the EC, which is investigating BSE in sheep, is classifying European countries according to risk. Only high risk countries - Britain and Portugal - would be affected by the sheep ban.

Britain's own BSE advisory body, Seac, has agreed not to oppose the introduction of the EC's proposals even though it believes that existing measures to protect the public against the possible risk of BSE in sheep are perfectly adequate.

Professor Peter Smith, the acting chairman of Seac, said that there was currently no evidence that BSE had crossed into sheep. "Clearly the sheep industry is not in a good state at the moment and these measures would have a negative impact on it," he said. "What we haven't got is a quick, simple test to distinguish BSE in sheep from scrapie in sheep."

Scientists believe there is a theoretical risk of BSE having passed into sheep as a result of feeding lambs and pregnant ewes with contaminated meat and bonemeal. They are concerned that if BSE in sheep behaves like sheep scrapie - abrain disorder - then it could be transmitted in a similar way.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) said that Britain had the toughest measures in Europe to protect the public against BSE, and the addition of sheep intestines and backbones to the existing offal ban was only "hypothetical".

The Meat and Livestock Commission said if the EC was to succeed, then the removal of vertebrae would result in the loss of a significant proportion of edible meat and seriously devalue the sheep carcass.