Under the Over Thirty Month (OTM) rule introduced during the BSE epidemic, all British cattle slaughtered at 30 months or over are currently not allowed into the human food chain.

However, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today agreed to recommend to Government ministers that it would be acceptable on public health grounds to replace the ban with the testing of cattle older than thirty months. If the recommendation is implemented any cattle testing positive for BSE will be destroyed.

The development means cattle born after August 1996 could be allowed into the food chain after being tested for BSE, at the earliest from January 2004, with the possibility of complete replacement of the rule from July 2005. The OTM rule on UK beef and imports will remain in force until any changes are implemented. The current ruling costs £360 million a year to run, the move to tests would cut the bill by around £60 million.

The FSA decided that due to the need for effective implementation of the proposed changes, ministers should not change the OTM rule until they are satisfied that the necessary preparations had been made by the relevant Government departments, industry and other agencies throughout the UK. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for taking these arrangements forward.

The other main controls are to remain unchanged. These are the Specified Risk Materials controls, which remove 99% of any infectivity that may be present in cattle, and the ban on feeding meat and bone meal to cattle. The board also agreed that an independent review will report monthly on the BSE testing system with a final report which will be published.

The FSA’s decision follows a year-long review of the OTM rule, which began in July 2002 with the setting up a stakeholder group.

Sir John Krebs, chairman of the FSA board, said: “We have examined the evidence thoroughly and listened carefully during the consultation. We have had to balance the possibility of a very small increase in risk from a move to testing, with the very large costs associated with the OTM rule. We were also mindful that 99% of any possible infectivity is removed by other BSE controls and that there has been a continual and steep decline of BSE in the UK.”

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