18 January 2006 - Ref 01/06
After almost 10 years in operation, the Over Thirty Month Scheme (OTMS) ends at midnight on 22 January 2006. This follows changes to the Over Thirty Month (OTM) Rule on 7 November 2005. Cattle born on or after 1 August 1996 are now eligible to enter the food chain.
The end of the OTM rule follows Government acceptance of advice from the Food Standards Agency in September 2005 that a robust testing regime has been developed. Cattle born before 1 August 1996 will continue to be excluded from the food chain.
The Older Cattle Disposal Scheme (OCDS) begins on 23 January 2006.
The OCDS is a voluntary scheme, providing a disposal outlet for animals born before 1 August 1996, which are fit for human consumption but are not eligible to enter the food chain. It is now a criminal offence to consign these animals for slaughter to an abattoir producing meat for human consumption.
Animals eligible to enter the scheme are:
· those born on or before 31 July 1996 that are fit to travel
· those born on or before 31 July 1996 which are injured as a result of an accident and are subject to emergency on farm slaughter
All registered OTMS producers have been sent information about the closure of the OTMS as well as a copy of the OCDS Handbook which sets out the rules, eligibility criteria and process for entering animals onto the new scheme. Further copies of all the OCDS scheme literature can be accessed via the RPA website at www.rpa.gov.uk or by contacting the Slaughter Scheme Helpline on 0118 968 7333.
END
1. The Rural Payments Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) It is the single paying agency responsible for CAP schemes in England and for administering certain schemes throughout the UK.
2. Commission Decision 96/239 issued in March 1996 prohibits the export of bovine animals or any part of them from the UK.
3. UK legislation banned the introduction of bovine animals of more than 30 months at the time of slaughter into the human food and animal feed chains.
4. The OTMS scheme was set up as a result of Commission Regulation No.716/96 (as amended) in April 1996. This allowed the then Intervention Board to purchase any bovine animal aged more than 30 months subject to certain conditions and acted as a UK agricultural market support measure.
5. Since then, the OTMS has purchased and disposed of over 8,000,000 cattle, operating continuously except during the FMD outbreak of 2001 when only the casualty route remained open.
6. In July 2004, the FSA advised Ministers that a move to replace the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule by BSE testing would be justified on the basis of the food-borne risk to consumers and proportionality in relation to the cost of maintaining the current rule.
7. In December 2004, the UK Government announced the start of a managed transition towards the lifting of the OTM rule and its replacement with a system of robust testing of cattle for BSE. The Government also announced that the final switch-over would not happen until the FSA had advised that the testing system was robust.
8. On 15 August 2005, the Food Standards Agency Board advised Ministers that an effective system to test cattle aged over 30 months (OTM) for BSE before they enter the food chain had been successfully designed and trialled.
9. On the 15th September 2005 the Government announced that it had accepted advice from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that Defra's proposed robust BSE testing system for older cattle should replace the Over Thirty Month (OTM) rule.
10. With effect from 7 November 2005, all animals born on or after 1 August 1996 have been permitted to enter the food chain, subject to those aged over 30 months being tested negative for BSE.
11. Those animals born on or before 31 July 1996 are still not permitted to enter the food chain, and subsequently, the OTMS successor scheme, the Older Cattle Disposal Scheme (OCDS) has been introduced. Cattle born before 1 August will continue to be excluded from the food chain.
12. The OCDS will operate until 31 December 2008.
13. For further information contact Penny Corkish on 01189 531 746
Page published: 24 July 2006