The European Union says mad cow disease has reduced beef consumption by 27%

OA show ('918 '); [the European Union says BSE has led to a 27% drop in beef consumption] the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, said in a statement recently that the potential spread of BSE has threatened the beef market, the EU wide consumption of beef has declined by 27%, and producers and consumers have suffered serious losses Franz, member of the European Commission in charge of agricultural affairs 'the crisis in the EU beef market is much more serious than people think,' Mr Fischler said in a statement 'there are signs in the market that mad cow disease has caused serious panic among consumers He said that many third countries outside the EU have banned the import of beef from the EU, resulting in a large backlog of products last year that has dragged on to this year Mr Fischler said consumption in the European beef market had fallen by more than 10 percent, compared with 27 percent in the EU He said that if the consumption is reduced by 10% and the government purchase plan of destroying suspected beef is fully implemented, nearly 800000 tons of beef will still be overstocked in the EU market this year He also pointed out that general market interventions through government acquisitions would face not only budgetary problems, but also insufficient storage capacity He said government intervention would lead to a serious overspending of the agricultural budget, leading to a reduction in aid to other agricultural sectors As a result, Fischer called on member governments to make full use of the purchase measures of the "plan to destroy suspicious beef" to ease market tensions and compensate producers for losses Fischer also pledged to develop broader measures to ensure market stability, to protect the interests of producers and consumers as much as possible, and to restore consumer confidence in the market SGK (author:)