§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment he has made of the report of the French food agency into the screening of French cattle for BSE; and if he will make a statement. [144332]
§ Mr. Nick Brown[holding answer 8 January 2001]: My officials have studied this report, which details the interim analysis of the results of the first 15,000 cattle investigated in an intended study of 40,000 cattle in the regions of Lower Normandy, Brittany and the Loire. The survey is intended to target the populations of cattle where there may be an increased probability of finding BSE cases—found dead, culls and emergency slaughtered cattle.
This comprehensive report indicates that there probably has been significant under-reporting of suspect BSE cases in France in the past. The targeted surveillance programme identified 32 positive cases, whereas in the same regions and over the same time period (7 August to 24 October 2000), the clinical surveillance programme identified only 11 BSE cases.