RHA slams feed code
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by Sally Nash • A new voluntary code of practice designed to stop hauliers carrying animal feed and cattle waste in the same vehicles has been labelled by food safety experts as "fundamentally flawed".
More than a year after the BSE crisis hit the haulage industry, the UK Agricultural Supply Trade Association (UKASTA) is about to launch a code of practice for the transport of bulk agricultural products.
The move follows concern about contamination in the wake of a recent Mirror newspaper article which revealed that lorries used to haul suspect "mad cow" waste are also transporting animal feed and supplies all over the country.
UKASTA says one of the code's main aims will be to avoid product contamination. It lists products which should not be carried in the same vehicles as bulk agri cultural products and gives cleansing guidelines for certain categories of product.
But the Road Haulage Association warns that the grain code is unworkable. Director-general Steven Norris says: "Throughout this code as it stands, there is a clear attempt by the milling industry to pass on to the haulier responsibilities which are simply unacceptable.
"By definition," he adds, "the haulier carries other people's goods and cannot, therefore, be held liable for the condition of the goods at the time of loading." Leeds University's head of medical microbiology, Professor Richard Lacey, has attacked the voluntary nature of the code. "We need compulsory legislation," he says. "We are not at all happy with self-regulation because if anyone decides not to comply with it they can."
UKASTA is also exploring the idea of trailer identification, possibly using colour coding for different products, in a bid to stamp out contamination.