Let's embrace EU 'tough' beef rules

Cattle farmers who are desirous of selling to the European Union (EU) will from now have to abide by these tough new rules or miss out on the lucrative EU beef market. The new high standards will require farmers to state the location of the farm, the owner and if the animal is free from diseases that could cause ill health to the consumers. Farmers will also be obligated to carry a detailed record of their cattle including their age, breed, vaccination type and the date the animal was vaccinated to ensure that when the animal was vaccinated it did not have any traces of the vaccination in its blood stream.

It is now a requirement that the beef that will be destined for European markets will be from cattle that were inserted with the bolus or the Livestock Identification Tracing System 40 days before slaughter.