Essex: Is lamb off the school menu?

However, Essex County Council said that it would wait for Government advice before withdrawing the meat.

It is discussing lamb supply and its country of origin with the food contractors who prepare meals at the council-run schools.

County Hall is also keeping in close contact with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, to make sure it is kept aware of the latest developments.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said: "There is no reason at the moment to remove lamb but it is being researched to see if there are sufficient concerns for its removal."

A spokesman for Southend Council said: "There are no current plans to take lamb off the menus."

Butchers cautious of lamb BSE fear

A well-known Southend butcher has allayed fears of a complete ban on British lamb.

The news came after a report by the Food Standards Agency working party warned BSE in sheep could be "masked" by a similar disease called scrapie.

Scrapie and BSE are so similar some experts believe they could be confused - meaning sheep showing symptoms of scrapie may really have BSE.

Now the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food could ban the consumption of British lamb as part of its contingency plan.

Sheep genetically immune to disease could be sold but it is estimated that thousands - if not millions - of sheep could have to be slaughtered and destroyed if the plan went ahead.

However, national meat retailer of the year Robert Byford said that if customers chose to stop buying lamb, they would instead switch to poultry or pork, which would not lead to a downturn in trade.

Mr Byford, owner of Byford's Food Hall, in Leigh, said: "The news will not affect us that much since we sell less lamb than any other meat anyway.

"When beef sales went down after the outbreak of BSE we simply sold more of the other meats instead.

"But it will certainly not help people's confidence in meat.

"However, I do not expect everyone to suddenly turn vegetarian."

He added: "It will not be good for the lamb industry, though.

"The business is already in real trouble and this could finish them off once and for all.

"There are restrictions already in place to combat such diseases getting into the food chain

" Lambs that can be sold for meat have to be under a certain age."

In cattle, BSE confines itself to specific organs and tissues, such as the brain and spinal cord but the disease would be widespread in sheep which means no part of their carcasses would be allowed into the human food chain.

Dan Squire, regional chairman of the National Farmers' Union, said: "There has never been a case of naturally occurring BSE in sheep. But more research is always needed.

"We need a test that can identify the disease in living animals."

Development of the food crisis

This is a timetable of events leading up to and during the BSE crisis:

1732 - Scrapie, the brain disease, is First recorded in sheep.

1883 - French vet reports first case of scrapie in a cow.

1920s - Rendering, the use of slaughterhouse remains for animal feed by farmers, begins on a widespread scale.

1920-1921 - First cases of classical Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease reported.

1970s and 1980s - Believed to be the period when scrapie "jumped'' the species barrier.

February 1985 - First signs of BSE.

1986 - The disease is officially recognised.

1987 - Ministers are first told about the new disease.

June 1988 - Law banning use of certain types of meal, the Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Order, is passed.

July 1988 - Government announces slaughter policy for animals showing BSE symptoms.

July 1989 - Europe bans export of British cattle.

May 1990 - Agriculture Minister John Gummer claims beef is safe.

1992-1993 - BSE reaches its peak with 100,000 confirmed cases.

1995 - The first known victim of variant CJD dies.

March 20, 1996 - Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell announces that there is a ''probable link'' between the cattle disease and vCJD.

March 27, 1996 - The European Commission imposes a world-wide ban on all British beef exports.

April 1996 - The Government introduces a scheme to slaughter all cattle over the age of 30 months.

April 1997 - Scientists find BSE can be transferred from cow to calf and offspring inherit susceptibility to infection.

September 1997 - Studies on mice show convincing evidence for a link between vCJD and BSE.

December 1997 - The Government imposes the ''beef-on-the-bone'' ban.

October 2000 - Government releases results of BSE inquiry.

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