Food scares - Our beef is as good as it ever was

THOUSANDS of livelihoods in jeopardy in a shrinking labour market; businesses built up over generations under threat days before Christmas; our meat industry fighting for what remains of its priceless credibility; the prospect of a beggared exchequer having to pay millions in compensation without little or no EU support; China bans our pork, Italy our beef.

Can it get much worse? Startlingly, the chilling answer is that it could. And it may unless our much-vaunted beef traceability scheme stands up to the sternest scrutiny.

This great difficulty is just one more calamity in the litany of woe faced by us all and our political leadership. And all because one relatively minor cog in the whole process used the wrong kind of oil to heat surplus food in the preparation of animal feeds.