UK food safety authority lifts Chernobyl-related sheep controls
Radioactive contamination was deposited on some areas of the UK after the 1986 nuclear accident in the former USSR.
Controls were placed on a number of sheep in the UK to prevent them entering the food chain – 25 years on and some restrictions have remained in place.
A review on the measures, which was carried out by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), concluded that the current controls are no longer “proportionate to the very low risk and removing the controls would not compromise consumer safety.”
The decision will permit all farms remaining under the restrictions to move sheep without the need for monitoring from 1 June 2012.
