France bans use of cow intestines in food; affects sausage industry

PARIS, France (Reuters) -- An age-old French sausage-making tradition looked set to change after the government said on Wednesday it would ban cow intestines from food because of fears it might transmit mad cow disease to humans.

French Farm Minister Jean Glavany said the government had decided to accept the opinion of French food safety agency AFSSA that cattle intestine posed a risk of transmitting to humans the fatal brain-wasting disease also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

"The government is going to follow the advice of AFSSA," Glavany said in an interview on radio station RTL.

The decision would come nearly a year after AFSSA first recommended a ban on cow intestines due to concerns over BSE.

Glavany said the ban would affect processed meat products that use cow intestine as an envelope. He cited andouillette, a traditional short, fat sausage made from entrails, and large sausages as among those that would be affected by the ban.

The minister said it would be possible to continue to make these products either by using synthetic intestine, by importing intestine from countries not affected by BSE -- such as those in Latin America -- or by using pig or sheep intestine.

The French charcuterie, or processed meats, federation said the ban would affect some 70 companies that produce 15,000 tons, or 1.5 billion French francs' ($199.5 million) worth, of food each year using the targeted ingredients.

Gerard Le Tyrant, the federation's head, said it would ask the government to postpone the measure for several months while its members sought solutions to the ban.

While he admitted that pig intestine could replace cow intestine in most products, he said four or five French companies may be put out of business because they had no alternative to using cow intestine.

He explained that these companies used veal intestine to produce delicacies such as Lyon-style andouillette.

"These traditions date back to the Middle Ages -- they're as old as France itself," Le Tyrant told Reuters. "Products that are representative of French gastronomy are simply going to disappear."

The government also raised the possibility that France might ban cow intestines from countries where BSE has been detected.

"We must take precautions on imports and that's a measure we are studying. It's true that France is leading the way in this matter and is making decisions that no other European country has made," Glavany said.

France already bans the import of British beef because of fears it is not entirely free of BSE.

The minister also said the ban was designed to protect consumer safety and that the government would revisit the issue depending on how France's own BSE epidemic evolved.

"It (BSE) is still with us and is growing steadily, and we should take all the precautions that scientists recommend until this epidemic begins to drop," he said.

The farm ministry reported on Tuesday that the number of French cases of BSE had more than doubled to 62 this year from 30 last year.

BSE is believed to spread to people by infected food products, emerging as a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (nvCJD). Around 70 people in Britain and two in France have died from nvCJD.

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