UK: GOVERNMENT BLOW TO COUNTRY'S BEEF INDUSTRY UPDATE

(4 Dec 1997) English/Nat The British meat industry is reeling after the latest ban on beef products announced by the London government. The sale of beef on the bone is being banned in the U-K over fears that people eating it could contract the human version of mad cow disease. Meat traders at London's Smithfield market reacted angrily to the decision on Thursday morning. Meat traders at Smithfield are bracing themselves for a big fall in business after Wednesday's announcement by the Government that beef on-the-bone will be banned. Most British supermarkets have already taken t-bone steaks, oxtail and spare ribs off their shelves. And Smithfield traders will soon be following suit - even though they say they have faith in British beef. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Meat has been going on for years and years and years and they (the Government) turn around and tell us that they have controlled it, they have got it (BSE) down, they're getting us to kill our cattle that's only 30 months old. So what else do you want, they have put the guidelines down, now they're moving the goalposts. What else do they want to do, ban beef altogether?" SUPER CAPTION: Derek Wood, meat trader. SOUNDBITE: (English) "It's a farce. It's a complete and utter farce. They have banned a product that they have said that they are not a hundred per cent sure of. Yet they still allow people to smoke which they know kills thousands of people, to drink which they know kills thousands of people. It's a complete joke. Surely in this day and age you should give people a choice. Fair enough if the Government want to say in their opinion, IN their opinion, there is danger in eating meat that is near the bone, fair enough, but they should give people the choice." SUPERCAPTION: John Green, Channel Meats. Bubba Hillberg runs a London restaurant which specialises steak and he's angry with the former Conservative (Tory) government. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I just think it's too little too late. If the Tories hadn't been the cheap-arse SOBs (sons of bitches) that they were and had just done what the Irish did and slaughtered every herd when they discovered it (BSE) in one animal, we wouldn't be where we are now." SUPERCAPTION: Bubba Hillberg, owner of barbecue restaurant Arkansas Cafe. Just yards from the market, traders were drowning their sorrows at the local pub. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well I think it's a tragedy for British meat actually, because everybody knows that the British beef industry is the best in the world. And to cut it off the bone now when it's clearing up, when it's clearing up, is unbelievable. When the British beef industry is renowned. I feel sorry for the poor farmers in England." SUPERCAPTION: Dennis Appleby, meat trader. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well, they got through it last time, I should think they'll get through it this time. They'll just have to change the way they cut it and sell it (the meat), that sort of thing, But I should think they'll get over it." SUPERCAPTION: Colin Longford, Meat trader. The latest scare follows British government announcements last year showing mounting evidence of a link between the brain wasting disease B-S-E (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) and a new strain of its human equivalent C-J-D (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...