UK ministers may lift BSE-era ban on animal remains in chicken and pig feed
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Exclusive: England and Wales proposals expected to follow Scottish consultation amid fears British farmers are being undercut. Ministers may lift a ban introduced during the BSE crisis on the use of animal remains in feed for farmed chickens and pigs over fears that foreign producers are undercutting British farmers.
A consultation on permitting the use of processed animal protein (PAP) from poultry, pigs and insects has opened in Scotland, and it is understood that proposals will be made for England and Wales in the coming months. The EU banned the use of mammalian PAP in cattle and sheep feed 30 years ago after the emergence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow disease.
The ban was expanded in January 2001 to include the use of all PAP in the feed of animals farmed for food. Brussels lifted its restrictions in relation to fish feed in 2013 and for chicken and pig feed eight years later under pressure from a powerful European farming lobby.
Boris Johnson’s government emphasised at the time that after Brexit the UK was able to make its own decisions, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) retained the prohibition. British farmers have since complained of being undercut by their European rivals. In its consultation document, the Scottish government said lifting the ban would “level the playing field with the EU”.
