Beef subcontractors hit hard by Euro ban
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• The ban on exporting beef carcasses on the bone to the European Union because of fears over mad cow disease (BSE) has resulted in a dramatic drop in subcontractors working in the sector.
Under the terms of the ban, herds must be guaranteed to have been free of BSE for six years before they can be exported (CM 4-10 August).
Northamptonshire-based Midland Meat Packers says business has dropped by twothirds following the ban on 29 July. "We have not been using as many subcontractors as we normally use," says a spokesman.
So far, there has been no threat to the company's own drivers, but he says the situation will not improve unless the restriction on importing British cattle carcasses is reduced.
Cheale Meats of Brentwood, Essex is also reporting that numbers of foreign runs it is subcontracting are down.
The company runs an abattoir and 50 vehicles of its own, but says slaughterings are down an average 40% and this has meant six to eight fewer sub contracted international journeys a week.
But director Paul Cheale says other markets, such as loads of boneless beef and deliveries of killed lamb, could soon take up the slack.