AN EU scheme that would have seen beef labels carry the gender of the cattle has been abandoned.
New labelling is to begin on September 1, but this will not include the categories of calf, steer, young bull, cow, bull or heifer, as had been earlier proposed. The British meat industry opposed the scheme and the Meat and Livestock Commission reported it would have added more than 5pc to the price of British meat.
Tory Euro MP Robert Goodwill, who farms at Terrington, led the European parliamentary fight against the proposal. The parliamentary rejection made it difficult for the Council of Ministers to adopt it without lengthy holiday-time negotiations with MEPs, he said.
"We had strong evidence that the category labelling system would have greatly added to the costs of the British beef industry at a time when it is trying to recover from the BSE crisis and the extra costs it has brought."
He described the category labelling as a "French foible. If they want it, they can still operate such a system on a voluntary basis."
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