BEEF CRISIS: Quotes

`I'm a parent and I am bewildered. We envisage going back to British beef in the future.'

Paul Preston, head of Macdonald's UK

`My predecessors and my department have done everything that we ought to have done fully and properly.'

Douglas Hogg, agriculture minister

`I dare say I will go back to hamburgers as long as I can be sure they aren't made from British beef.'

David Ward, McDonald's customer

`Our beef sales this weekend have virtually doubled. People know we have never had a case of BSE.'

Brian Frith, Kent farmer

`We are supporting measures that will effectively ring fence this BSE problem... to Britain.'

Ivan Yates, Irish agriculture minister

`It's just like smoking. They tell you what the dangers are and it's up to you if you smoke.'

Tony Gemmill,

McDonald's customer