LOCAL abbatoir workers - fearful of job cuts in the wake of the beef crisis - have been told: 'It's business as usual.'

More than 100 slaughterhouse employees at Great Harwood-based Slingers Wholesale Meat Suppliers are carrying on working as normal.

Last week, the government announced that BSE - commonly known as Mad Cow Disease - may have been transmitted to humans through beef, causing the condition Creutzfelt-Jakob Disease. Despite all the scare stories, Slingers' group accountant John Sayer says the 100-year-old company can weather the latest storm.

He said: "There has been a substantial reduction in trade but there have been no redundancies or cuts in working hours. Depending on what measures the government brings in, we will change our style of business to suit.

"As far as we're concerned there'll be no job cuts in the forseeable future."

THE National Farmers' Union this week demanded government action to take older cows out of the food chain and compensate breeders. Regional official Rodney Bacon said: "The debate is about public perceptions of the safety of British beef. With public confidence at such a low ebb we need to show we are prepared to go that extra mile to ensure the product's safety."

FALLING beef sales have meant a price hike for other meats by as much as 50 per cent in the last week.

Chicken prices have already soared by thirty per cent, with Blackburn market trader Barry Thomas saying: "We are doing our best to keep prices down but there just aren't enough chickens to meet demand. This will affect the whole of the food chain and already we are seeing bacon prices starting to creep up."

LANCASHIRE County Council banned beef from their primary and nursery schools before Christmas. They extended the ban to secondary schools this week.

Grant-maintained schools including St Wilfrid's High have acted independently to ban beef - much to the annoyance of pupils!

Catering manager Fiona McGarrigle said: "We decided to stop supplying beef until there is proof it is completely safe.

"But pupils are still asking for it. I don't think they fully understand the serious risk posed by contaminated meat." At grant-maintained Salesbury C of E Primary School, Blackburn, headteacher Peter Corbett axed beef last Friday. He said: "We are waiting for further advice."

Lancashire County Council issued a broadside at the government over its handling of the beef crisis.

Leader Louise Ellman said: "We are extremely dissatisfied with the way the government has gone about dealing with this very worrying situation."

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