The UK has officially been recognised as having negligible risk status for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
For Red Tractor beef members, this confirms that years of work on farm assurance, traceability and feed controls are delivering results, and helping to protect the reputation of assured British beef at home and overseas.
Why the UK’s negligible BSE risk status matters
EU member states have agreed that the UK now meets the strict criteria for negligible BSE risk. This is expected to support:
- Stronger confidence in assured British beef
- Improved access to export markets
- Better long-term value from the Red Tractor beef assurance scheme
Devon beef farmer and Red Tractor Beef and Lamb Sector Board Chair, John Dracup, says the new status reflects effort across the industry:
“Gaining negligible risk status for BSE is the result of work carried out by government agencies, processors and the whole farming community, including assurance bodies like Red Tractor.
“It demonstrates the quality of our beef production systems ad it will enable the UK to expand the range of products we can export and the number of countries we can potentially supply.
“For Red Tractor members, it’s a clear sign that the standards you work to every day are recognised internationally as helping to keep British beef safe, traceable and trusted,” he says.
How Red Tractor supported the UK’s BSE application
Achieving negligible BSE risk required robust evidence of long-term controls on farm and throughout the supply chain.
Red Tractor Senior Dairy, Beef and Lamb Technical Manager, Jemma Holden, explains that the scheme played an active role in supporting the government’s case:
“As part of the process, Red Tractor submitted data for review, including information on what our standards cover and what the non-conformance rates are.
“We also assisted Defra by sharing questionnaires about feed bin use. All of this helped achieve the outcome.”
Traceability: A turning point after the BSE crisis
Herefordshire beef farmer and Red Tractor member, Mick Beaumont, remembers how the BSE crisis affected his family farm – and how assurance and traceability helped rebuild confidence.
“When the BSE crisis hit in 1996, the beef price went through the floor and we lost a lot of money. It remains the only year we’ve ever recorded a loss as a business,” he says.
With EU bans on UK beef and consumer confidence badly hit, the family needed a way to demonstrate the standards behind their cattle.
“We became farm assured because we wanted to sell our animals and it was becoming increasingly difficult to find a market without accreditation,” adds Mr Beaumont.
“Being farm assured meant we could prove the traceability of our cattle and give confidence to the consumer that we were farming in the right way to some of the most robust standards in the world.”
For Mick, assurance is about demonstrating that everything on farm is done properly.
“Traceability was the biggest factor that allowed the industry to combat BSE, and Red Tractor has played a key part in that by evidencing to consumers and the supply chain that things are being done properly on farm,” he says.
What this means for your Red Tractor assured beef business
For Red Tractor beef members, the UK’s negligible BSE risk status reinforces the value of being part of an independently audited assurance scheme.
As Red Tractor marks 25 years of working with British farmers, this milestone underlines that the daily discipline of meeting standards contributes to something bigger: a world-leading reputation for safe, traceable, responsibly produced Red Tractor beef.