In message
,
harry writes

I was thinking more along the lines of soylent green but who would
eat green meat !!! pass the food colouring dear :-)

We buy our stuff from the local butcher.

Very wise, Harry.

BSE produced a raft of controls on farm livestock. Previously cattle
movements, sale or to different farm premises had to be recorded in a
book. This was available for inspection by the local trading standards
officer and was largely to do with notifiable disease control such as TB
or Foot and Mouth. Cattle were fitted with metal ear tags at birth.

Post BSE, distance readable ear tags were required and each bovine had a
*passport* issued by the cattle management service. Movements were
recorded centrally so cattle could be followed from birth to abattoir.
Dairy cows were not allowed into the food chain until fairly recently. A
vet has to be present at the abattoir to certify that a beast is fit for
consumption and checks for sign of undiagnosed TB lesions etc. Of course
none of this is perfect as it relies on human fallibility.

Horse passports are rather different in that veterinary treatment should
be recorded. Bute is not available off veterinary prescription but
Ireland had a bit of a reputation for *Angel dust* availability a few
years back.

I had to laugh at the NFU rep. struggling not to say that all food
products should be labelled with country of origin:-)

--
Tim Lamb