Italy considers French beef ban

Italians to rule on French beef

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Italy could ban French beef within days if a group of veterinary experts advises the government to suspend imports, Agriculture Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio has said.

A health ministry committee is due to meet on Thursday, and Pecoraro Scanio said: "If the Italian veterinary service tells the health minister we should impose an immediate suspension, all we need is a ruling from the ministry."

"We will ask the health service to look favourably on a suspension of imports," he said.

Italy has been considering banning French beef for almost a week in the latest mad cow crisis to sweep Europe.

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Consumer groups have called on Prime Minister Giuliano Amato's centre-left government to block the sale of French beef

They want the government to copy Spain, which blocked the meat after French supermarkets said they had sold beef potentially contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the so-called mad cow disease linked to a fatal brain-wasting disease in humans.

Italian Health Minister Umberto Veronesi has drafted a provisional ruling against animal feed containing meat, bone or any animal product not suitable for human consumption in a bid to quell fears about BSE spreading in Italy.

He has also drafted a decree dealing with the issue to present to the cabinet on Friday, although it was not clear if that would include a ban on beef imports.

On Tuesday France banned T-bone steaks in the latest of a series of measures aimed at allaying fears over mad cow disease.

The French government also suspended the use of all livestock feed containing meat in moves that are expected to cost several billion francs.

And the French Farm Minister Jean Glavany called for the EU to follow his country's lead by banning the use of meat and bone meal in all animal feed, in response to consumer panic.

Italy has been free of BSE, which scientists think may be spread by animal-based livestock feed. But an increase in reported cases in France has frightened Italian consumers. More than 30 cities have taken beef off their menus and butchers say sales are dropping.

The EU on Wednesday tried to calm consumers by saying the sudden increase in cases in France was largely due to improved testing rather than any spread of the ailment.

At the height of the Britain outbreak in 1996, the EU banned all British beef exports. The ban was lifted in August 1999.

Swiss health officials insisted on Wednesday the country's beef was safe to eat despite a panic over mad cow disease spilling across its border from France.

"We are about to issue a statement that there is no risk to eating beef in Switzerland," Roland Charriere, head of meat inspection at the federal health office, said.

Swiss butchers' association director Balz Horber said that sales of beef were down by five to 10 percent in the Geneva area but remained stable in the rest of the country.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Human BSE Foundation

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