EAST Lancashire shoppers are swapping their Sunday joints of beef for other meat, as fears about mad cow disease continue to rage.

Sales of beef dropped by as much as 40 per cent for some butchers and at least one East Lancashire school has taken beef off the school meals menu.

Schools meals providers BET Catering Services Ltd have been inundated with requests to drop beef from the menu.

But Blackburn market butcher Frank Smith, said he believed people were being misled about BSE. He said: "All this is just scaremongering, nobody is giving out any hard facts.

"There is no evidence to say that BSE can be passed on to humans. The problem is that the average shopper doesn't know how the meat chain works.

"Most independent butchers use prime meat from young bullocks with an average age of 15 months.

"I don't sell cow meat, that tends to be used in processed foods such as burgers and pies.

"Dairy cows that have stopped producing milk are sometimes used for food. They are usually about six or seven years old and it is possible they could be prone to dementia.

"I don't know of any butchers who sell cow beef.

"There is a lot of hysteria at the moment and people are genuinely terrified about BSE. I have had customers coming to the stall saying they will eat lamb, pork or chicken but not beef. "It is already having a knock-on effect, cattle at the auction mart had dropped by about £80 per animal, which means farmers have to sell at a loss or not sell at all. But meanwhile, they still have to feed the cattle and look after them.

"I really believe that the strict regulations in place means that beef is safe.

"If I thought I was selling something that was harming people I wouldn't sell it."

Steve Hayman, from Slacks Farm Butchers, in Blackburn Market, has put up a sign saying that his beef comes from veterinary-inspected herds.

He said: "Although our sales of beef have dropped, our sales overall are about the same because people are just buying other meat."

Jimmy Wood, proprietor of Bowland Foods, in Great Harwood, says the number of cattle being slaughtered has remained steady this week.

But he fears his business will be hit if the scare continues.

He said: "The Government haven't done anything to help the situation. All we have got is mass panic.

"The regulations these days are so strict it is untrue and I feel sure beef is safe. I still eat it and give it to my children.

'We don't slaughter any cows at all, just bullocks aged between 10 and 15 months.

"Most cows, which could be more prone to BSE, are exported to France or it goes in processed food.

"People are very worried about this, but at the end of the day there is no evidence linking BSE to humans."

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