Volume 3: The Early Years, 1986-88
3. Epidemiology
The feed industry consulted

3.36 On 29 February 1988 Mr Wilesmith provided his veterinary colleagues with a summary of his findings in relation to the composition of cattle feed. He noted that Prosper De Mulder's Exeter plant was the last to cease solvent extraction of tallow in 1984. The change had come about because the value of tallow had dropped, so that this method of extraction was no longer economical, and in any event compounders were producing feed with a higher fat content. No change in the average rate of inclusion of MBM in dairy rations had occurred during the 1980s. ¹ Meanwhile, Prosper De Mulder had increased its market share of industry to the extent that, by 1985, it handled 50 per cent of all animal by-products. (See vol. 13: Industry Processes and Controls for a description of the rendering industry.)

3.37 Mr Wilesmith had been informed that, as a result of renderers establishing links with knacker's yards throughout the country, more sheep carcasses were entering their rendering plants. Information on the details of the rendering processes in the various plants was not available. Mr Wilesmith concluded:

I would suggest that we have obtained as much information about the composition of rations that can be obtained from existing data and through surreptitious enquiries.

I feel the following questions need to be put to the industry.

(a) What variation in the rendering processes has there been over time to produce MBM and tallow and what variation is there in these processes between plants?

(b) How much MBM and tallow has been produced by the various plants which has been used in cattle rations?

(c) What changes have there been in the inclusion rate of tallow in all cattle feedstuffs?

(d) What changes have taken place in the inclusion of sheep material to produce MBM and tallow?

(e) What are the real possibilities of tracing MBM and tallow from rendering plants to compounders, particularly if there is a significant variation between plants? ²

3.38 So far as the last question is concerned, a number of people had suggested to Mr Wilesmith that it would be impossible to trace the source of the products used by feed compounders because their practice was to buy through brokers rather than directly from the rendering plants. ³

3.39 In March 1988 Mr Rees asked Mr Meldrum to head a Task Force, to include Mr Wilesmith, Mr Gallagher and Mr Stranks among others (see paragraph 3.44 below). The Task Force was to visit all the main rendering plants in order to obtain full details of supplies of raw material, processing methods and distribution of the finished product, and any changes which occurred in relation to these in the early or mid-1980s. Mr Rees asked for a report by the end of the month so that further action could be considered. ⁴

3.40 On 8 March Mr Meldrum, Mr Wilesmith, Mr Gallagher and Mr Alan Lawrence (of MAFF) met with representatives of UKRA, UKASTA and GAFTA after having held initial meetings with these Associations individually. ⁵ At the meeting:

The renderers took careful note of what we said, and made no attempt to challenge our tentative conclusions. In response to our request for co-operation in further studies, their Chairman, Mr Field, said he was convinced that nobody in the rendering industry would be so irresponsible as to refuse to co-operate fully. They will therefore be nominating representatives to join with the UKASTA and GAFTA representatives in assisting our task force. ⁶

They provided considerable information about the different rendering processes currently in use and about some of the changes in rendering that had occurred over the past decades. Among other things, it was suggested at the meeting that there had been a significant reduction over the past ten years in the harvesting of sheep brains for human consumption, so that over 90 per cent were being left in the heads, which were going for rendering.

3.41 MBM had become a constituent of cattle cake in the late 1960s. Thereafter there had been an increase in its fat content in order to provide a high-energy feed until 1984, when milk quotas were introduced. After this the fat content had been reduced to satisfy the need for cheaper concentrates.