WRITTEN QUESTION E-3650/97 by Irene Soltwedel-Schäfer (V) to the Commission (19 November 1997)

Subject: BSE

The VWD/Europe News (Combined Economic Services, edition of 1 October 1997, No 1897810b) quotes a press release by Friedrich Graefe zu Bahringdorf, on behalf of the Green Group: 'The EP delegation naturally assumed that the inspection of the cold stores would be at the centre of the tour of inspection. Owing to a lack of disposal capacity, the carcasses of some 250 000 cattle which were slaughtered at over 30 months as a precautionary measure were put in interim storage there over the last few months. The fact that there is no more beef at risk from contamination by BSE in interim storage to be disposed of could be seen as either good or bad news, the MEP stated. Either the British Government had significantly increased processing and disposal capacity so that everything had indeed been processed, or else there had been an 'embarrassing arithmetical error' which would also explain the illegal exports.'

1. To what extent is it true that 250 000 cattle which were slaughtered at over 30 months as a precautionary measure were put in interim storage?

2. How many cold stores have there been in the United Kingdom between July 1996 and the present date in which cattle slaughtered as an emergency measure have been put in interim storage?

3. Where are these cold stores for the storage of cattle carcasses earmarked for disposal located?

4. How many cattle have been slaughtered as an emergency measure between July 1996 and the present date?

Answer given by Mrs Bonino on behalf of the Commission (13 January 1998)

1. The so-called 'Over thirty months scheme' (OTMS) has been in force since end April 1996. The throughput of the system has been such that the rendering capacity has been the bottleneck in the system until early 1997. The rendering capacity stood at the equivalent of 25 000-30 000 cattle per week, while the slaughterings reached nearly 60 000 during certain weeks in autumn 1996. The United Kingdom authorities decided to rent cold storage space to which bone-in meat was moved, freeing rendering capacity to deal principally with offals.

According to the Intervention board executive agency (IBEA), a total of 229 172 carcasses were delivered to cold storage.

2. and 3. A total of 42 stores (28 in England, 2 in Wales, 6 in Scotland and 6 in Northern Ireland) were used in the OTMS, according to the IBEA. From February 1997, the rendering plants were able to render material from cold stores (2 000 to 2 500 tonnes per week), due to the decrease in the weekly slaughterings down to 15 000-20 000 head per week). Apart from the beginning of the scheme and Christmas 1996, the lowest number slaughtered in any one week was 6 534 (first week of February 1997).

By the end of October 1997, all the stocks of frozen OTMS material had been removed and rendered, according to the United Kingdom authorities (i.e. some 72 400 tonnes of frozen material). All cold stores in Great Britain were clear of frozen OTMS materials by mid-September 1997 and in Northern Ireland by end October.

The products of the rendering process are stored under supervision by the authorities, pending disposal (currently by a single incinerator). A total of around 220 000 tonnes of meat and bone meal (MBM), 150 000 tonnes of tallow and 47 000 of blood meal were stored by end October 1997 in Great Britain. In addition, around 45 000 tonnes of MBM were stored in Northern Ireland, which has no incinerators. The incineration capacity is now the bottleneck in the scheme. Up to the beginning of November 1997, only 5 750 tonnes of MBM had been incinerated.

4. By the beginning of November 1997, over 1.8 million cattle had gone through the OTMS. The report on the number of cattle slaughtered under the OTMS, on a weekly basis from end April 1996, is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to the Parliament's Secretariat.