‘100-plus tons of beef a year go up in smoke’

BURNING Guernsey’s unwanted cattle is a scandalous waste of food, according to the UK director of the Soil Association.
Patrick Holden (pictured) was in Guernsey talking about the importance of developing a sustainable food strategy for the island – and sending its cattle up in smoke was definitely not part of that.
The island’s abattoir cannot check for BSE so cattle over 30 months must be incinerated.
‘It is an absolute scandal. It must be Guernsey’s best-kept secret, that all this wonderful food is being incinerated,’ he said,
He told more than 100 people at a meeting that around 450 cows, each representing 250kg of meat, were incinerated each year. ‘It is embarrassing for Guernsey,’ he said.
A Commerce and Employment spokesman said that brain stem tissue would have to be taken from each animal over 30 months after slaughter and sent to a specialist laboratory in England for analysis.
That could take up to 10 days and the carcass had to be kept refrigerated. If the BSE test came back clear the carcass must be butchered on site to remove the backbone and other ‘at risk’ tissue. (from thisisguernsey)

Seems a shameful waste of good food...

I agree GD, surely we should be investing in a new Abattoir and whatever EU recommendations are required to ensure that we do not waste what in essence is a good quality local food source.

Yes, I know that the Dairy cattle are bred for milk and related products and not purely for beef as are other lines, but the meat is still edible (if it does not have BSE!!) and has been endorsed by celebrity chefs.

In fact, I am sure that our forefathers would not have let a good animal go to waste..... is this not the origin of organic farming?





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What is the cost of incineration against the cost of a basic no flairs BSE testing facility or unit. I am talking basic unit not a fantastic laboratory that has bells and whistles.

If it is only the spinal cord and brain tissues why can't we just remove those and eat the rest?Or am I being too simplistic again!

bug1 wrote:If it is only the spinal cord and brain tissues why can't we just remove those and eat the rest?Or am I being too simplistic again!

Mainly because we do not know if the meat has been infected with BSE prior to removal of the spinal cord, hence the need to test.