Plan to ease BSE rules

EVIDENCE that the BSE threat is receding has come with new proposals from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

The EFSA has recommended that the age limit for the removal of the brain and spinal cord from cattle be raised from a year to 21 months.

The safety authority has concluded that the bovine central nervous system is now unlikely to become infectious until an animal is considerably older than 12 months. Its proposals have now gone to the European Commission.