Brussels, 21/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - During the Agriculture Council, Commissioner David Byrne, inferred that he was considering imminently proposing an easing of the provisions banning the use of meat and bone meals in farm animal feed (this ban was extended last June until the end of the year). Firstly, this would concern, authorising pigs and poultry to consume these meals, which would have as benefit of somewhat reabsorbing the mountains of animal meal and fat that are accumulating in the Community (because storage and incineration capacities are totally inadequate, he added) and to avoid the fraudulent sale of stocks which, it must be recalled, are susceptible of carrying the "Mad Cow" prion.
In the light of a report by his services, Mr Byrne also emphasised that the storage and destruction of these stocks would cost a great deal of money. This report, which was distributed to the Agriculture Ministers, discusses the way in which the Member States face the challenge represented by the elimination of meat meals, animal fats and specific risk materials (SRM) and castes light on the methods, not always orthodox, used to dispose of these materials, including exports due to the lack of storage capacity. It emerges from this study (which compiles answers from countries to a questionnaire that was sent to them in March by the Commission) that there exist significant disparities in the costs shouldered by the Member States for the collection, transportation, storage and incineration of animal by-products, and that at least six Member States (Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden) suffer terrible difficulties in destroying these wastes. All the countries except Greece and Luxembourg, are considering building new incineration infrastructures for animal meals. According to this document, the collection and transportation costs for animal by-products vary from EUR 20 in Denmark to EUR 135 in Spain. France, Denmark and Finland are the countries where the cost for extracting the fats are lowest (respectively EUR 50, 75 and 77 per tonne), as opposed to Greece, Spain and Germany where the costs rise to EUR 190, 177 and 168 per tonne. Germany is the country that has carried out the greatest collection of animal by-products, followed by France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. The monthly storage costs for animal protein range from EUR 2 per tonne (Austria, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands) to EUR 11 per tonne in Finland and Germany. The direct incineration of waste is widely practised in the United Kingdom and Greece, while most of the other Member States process these animal meal products, store them, then incinerate them.
This report also confirms the assertions made by Mr Byrne according to which certain countries have tried to free themselves of these cumbersome materials. Thus, he indicated that all the Member States, with the exception of Austria, Greece, Luxembourg and Sweden, have marketed, within the Community, animal proteins and fats for incineration or use in various products (pet food).
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands exported these products (for the same outlets) towards third countries such as Estonia, Russia and Switzerland.
Discussions on national measures linked to the risk of BSE and scrapie were resumed at an exchange of views between the Commission and France. Mr Byrne urged the French minister, Jean Glavany, to postpone the date for implementation of the French measures concerning small ruminants (essentially lowering the age of sheep and goats after which it is necessary to eliminate the spinal cord from 12 to 6 months as of 1 January 2002).
Furthermore, Mr Byrne forwarded a working document to the ministers recommending greater flexibility of the Community legislation on removing the spinal cord (considered as SRM), by increasing the threshold from 12 to 30 months for ruminants. During the Standing Veterinary Committee, the same day, four Member States were in favour (Italy, Ireland, Sweden and Spain, which hope to bring the threshold down to 24 months), while Germany, Denmark, Austria and France felt there was not scientific justification for this proposal.
Finally, the Council adopted without debate the common position (of Parliament and Council) on the proposal concerning animal by-products. The aim of the proposal of regulation is to ban the recycling, in cattle feed, of animals found dead or of substandard animal matter. Once in force, the regulation will not only allow 16 million tonnes of animal by-products produced each year in the EU (unfit for consumption) to be dealt with in a safe manner, but it will also allow precise safety regulations to be defined should meat and bone meal be authorised once more. The Parliament is to give its position in second reading on this proposal.