[Sca-cooks] OT: no salami imports down under?

[Rikke D. Giles]

On 2004.12.23 05:54, Bill Fisher wrote:

> From what this is telling me, it is possible to transmit animal
> diseases through finished cured food products?
>

According to the BBC at the time off the foot and mouth outbreak in  
Britain in 2001, the virus was transmitted via smuggled meat or meat  
products (they still aren't sure which), which were sold in a regular  
store, and bought by this poor sod of a farmer in Northumberland.  He  
fed the leftovers to his pigs (he ran a pig fattening farm) and they  
contracted the disease.  They were shipped to slaughter in Essex, where  
the disease was actually discovered.

Over 6 million farm animals paid for government indecision and bungling  
with their lives.  UK farmers lost up to 2.4 billion pounds, the UK  
overall lost at least double that in hits to tourism and so on, with  
final costs nearing 8 billion.  Whole farms were destroyed, and in some  
cases very rare breeds of sheep and cattle were nearly wiped out, if  
not completely wiped out, due to the indecision and inability of the  
government to act quickly to control the spread of the outbreak.  As a  
part time farmer, I can't imagine the devastation; having the  
government come in and kill all my stock just because they might catch  
the disease...  not only economically, but emotionally, it would be  
soul-destroying.  Makes me tear up just thinking about it.

Aelianora de Wintringham
Barony of Dragon's Laire
Kingdom of AnTir