beef

Quin impresses as British beef returns Mike Ingham, Brussels British beef nominally returned to the international market on Wednesday when MLC hosted a lunch for MEPs, other European dignitaries and an unexpectedly large media crowd at the plush Metropole Hotel in Brussels. From UK political and MAFF sources as well as MLC staff came the familiar warnings against expecting large volume commercial exports to resume quickly after the formal end of the EU ban imposed at the height of the BSE crisis in 1996. But the event turned into a surprising diplomatic triumph and offered hints of previously unsuspected implications for the UK meat processing industry and retail trade. Two new stars were born at this show. The performance of recently appointed agriculture minister Joyce Quin delighted her MAFF minders and other officials, and Belgian agriculture minister Jack Gabriel startled his audience by combining a candid admission of the problems his country was suffering due to the dioxin crisis with an articulate plea for closer cooperation between Belgium and the UK over food issues. Although Quin's assertion of a "a great day for British beef" was hedged with the caution "it is only a start", several continental journalists privately praised her confident handling of questions reflecting the continuing sensitivities of many EU customers. As for Gabriel, who acknowledged "some people might be surprised to see a Belgian minister here", his contribution was to stress the similar experiences of the Belgian and British governments resulting from the dioxin and BSE crises and to offer the prospect of closer political links as a consequence. The intriguing implication is a new bond between two countries which have traditionally been seen as natural adversaries over a range of agripolitical issues. {{MEAT }}