THE director of the Scottish Consumer Council yesterday demanded to know whether BSE might also have affected pigs and poultry in the light of this week's recommendations that mammalian meat and bonemeal in feed should be banned for all farm animals.
Mrs Ann Foster said the Government had now implemented a blanket ban on the particular type of foodstuff that scientists have identified as causing BSE in cattle. It is widely thought that BSE was caused when cattle were fed rations containing the processed remains of sheep infected with a similar fatal disease called scrapie.
``This means that, up until now, farmers have been feeding mammalian food and bonemeal to pigs and poultry. Why is it banning bonemeal now? Is there another potential food problem there as well? Is there a danger these problems will manifest themselves in pigs and poultry?'' she asked.
In a situation that is becoming ever more confused in the minds of consumers, her questions pose further doubts about food safety.
A Scottish Office spokesman said studies into the transmission of BSE from such foodstuffs had been ongoing for some years and that there was no evidence it could be transmitted to pigs and poultry.
Mr John Scott, president of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers, said that, in his opinion, the bonemeal was being banned as feed for pigs and poultry because there had been occasions when cattle had been allowed to eat other livestock's feed after the imposition of the 1989 ban. By removing it altogether from farms, the Government was removing all risk.
Critics of the Government, however, will simply point to this as another precaution that should have been taken earlier in the day.
With uncertainty still surrounding whether BSE can be transmitted maternally, vertically, or across species, Mrs Foster made a plea for further caution on the part of the Government.
``The Government has acted very quickly on the evidence that came to light at the weekend but it has not been operating the precautionary principle.''
People should listen to the advice of experts and make up their own minds whether to eat beef, she said.
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