BSE fear for millions of British pets

A change in government policy suggests that millions of British domestic cats are being fed BSE-contaminated food.

A minister has announced a ban on all production of pet food in any building used for the manufacture of livestock feed.

Angela Browning, an agriculture minister, has confirmed to the Commons in a written reply that mammalian meat and bone meal (MBM) - powdered residue from culled and rendered cattle - is used in pet food. But she has also told Martyn Jones, a microbiologist and Labour MP: "Because of our concerns that pet food containing MBM might present a possible risk of cross-contamination of livestock feed, new measures to prevent this were introduced on 1 August."

"The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy order 1996 now prohibits the production of this material [pet food containing MBM] on the same premises as livestock feed unless this takes place in a separate building and there is no contact with equipment or vehicles used in the production of livestock feed"

Mr Jones said last night: "This is an astounding revelation. This stuff is so risky that they are not even allowed to bury it. Instead, they are getting rid of it by passing it on to pet food manufacturers.

"It is probably being used in every cat food, as a filler - duck, liver, tuna, you name it. The Government is quite clearly trying to get out of a hole by getting rid of it in this way."

A Ministry of Agriculture spokesman said last night that there was no risk to household pets from MBM in pet food "because they are meat-eaters".

But a Commons select committee investigation into BSE was told in April that cats had tested positive for a form of spongiform encephalopathy.

The committee was also told that while the high-risk specified bovine material - such as spinal cord - would be incinerated, "sides of meat will be rendered into meat and bone meal which will then be disposed of, either by landfill or incineration." There was no mention of MBM being used in pet food.

Mr Jones asked Mrs Browning earlier this week how much MBM from bovine sources was being used in pet food, and the minister told him that no figures were available. The spokesman said: "You will have to ask the manufacturers."

But the August ban on joint pet food and livestock feed manufacture also required "that all movements and use of MBM have to be recorded and accompanied by appropriate documentation."

Mr Jones said he was dismayed by the ministry response "They have claimed from day one of this BSE crisis that it was caused by meat and bone meal. We also know that cats can be infected. He added: "If the risk is so great, why are they feeding it to our pets?"