Jospin seeks to calm French over BSE crisis

The beef crisis continued in France yesterday with a calling from Luc Guyau, president of the FNSEA farmer's union, for the government to ensure that animals born before 1996 do not enter the food chain. Amid public panic about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) across France, the prime minister Lionel Jospin urged all involved to calm down. The French Agriculture minister Jean Glavany added that France appeared to be "in the realm of psychosis and irrationality," The Guardian reported yesterday. Spain joined the list of countries banning the import of French beef yesterday. But in London the foreign secretary, Robin Cook, said Britain had no intention of putting an embargo on beef products from across the channel. France's main wholesale food market at Rungis said beef sales had slumped by 60% week-on-week.