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British beef exported again

On the menu again: British beef
On the menu again: British beef

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LONDON, England -- The first beef to be exported from the UK since the beginning of the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis was being given a ceremonial sendoff on Wednesday.

Welsh Rural Development Minister Michael German was due to wave off the consignment of beef as it begins its journey from St Merryn Foods, in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, to the Netherlands.

All fresh meat exports from the UK were banned at the start of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in February 2001 but the ban was lifted in stages from the end of last year.

The recently introduced Date Based Export Scheme means that now export and non-export beef can be produced in the same slaughterhouse, provided they are kept separate by either time or space.

German stamped the beef ready for shipping last Tuesday, and said it signified better times ahead for the agriculture industry.

EXTRA INFORMATION

The beef, which has been branded specifically as Welsh, is going to VEN International Versmarkt, a major catering trade supplier in Holland.

In July the UK government admitted that serious mistakes were made in the handling of the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic.

The third in a series of independent investigations concluded that within a month of the outbreak a "sense of panic appeared" in government and decision-making became "haphazard and messy."

The eight-month crisis that led to the slaughter of four million animals, crippled the meat and livestock trade, devastated Britain's tourist industry and forced Prime Minister Tony Blair to delay a general election.

Images of giant piles of smouldering dead cattle, strewn across the countryside, hurt Britain's reputation across the globe.



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