This Is Guernsey

By Jess Stevenson

Limited refrigeration facilities at the Victorian-era slaughterhouse mean all cattle dispatched there must be incinerated because of the length of time required for BSE testing. (0924843)

THE States are spending nearly £200,000 a year incinerating cattle that could be eaten locally.

Current legislation means all cattle over 30 months old at slaughter must be disposed of because the island’s abattoir does not have the refrigeration capacity to store the meat until the required BSE testing has been completed.

The States pays farmers £150 per cow to compensate them for the loss of an animal if it is over 30 months old then spends £250 incinerating it.

Guernsey Farmers’ Association spokesman James Watts said that in the UK, a farmer could get around £500 for a dairy cow at the end of its milking life.

The situation was nobody’s fault he said – but regulations needed to change.

‘The problem is the bureaucratic minefield, which is a tremendous waste of time.

‘The animals are fine to eat. They are incinerated because of the rules in place as a consequence of the BSE situation,’ he said.

An animal last tested positive for the disease in Guernsey in 2002.

‘Nobody wants to be accountable for saying these animals are fine,’ said Mr Watts.

He added that the slaughterhouse needed upgrading, but people could not see the point in spending the money when a new facility could be just a few years away.

Commerce and Employment have been looking for an alternative site for 20 years.

The department previously said converting the Victorian slaughterhouse would be too expensive.

Mr Watts said in an ideal world he would like the authorities to consider that no cases of BSE had existed in Guernsey for some years and let the cattle through.

‘The rules are dictating everything and it’s beyond a joke. These regulations are strangling common sense.’

Mr Watts, who runs Meadow Court Farm with his father, Ray, and sells beef at farmers’ markets, said the situation needed to change.

If the existing slaughterhouse – or a new abattoir – was fully compliant with EU regulations, as many as 450 cattle could be used for local consumption, although that depended on the health of the animal.

A Commerce and Employment spokesman said the department recently looked into the conversion of the existing facility in St Peter Port and consulted experts from the UK Meat and Livestock Commission.

HSSD has also commissioned a report from the UK Food Standards Authority.

As a result Commerce and Employment has been investigating converting the existing slaughterhouse so that at least meat from animals under 48 months of age could be used locally.

Article posted on 16th March, 2010 - 2.29pm