The Agriculture Minister has told Tynwald that she only found out about BSE changes five months after they happened.
In June of 2025, the UK announced changes to its BSE policy, a policy which the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment thought it was a part of.
However, it wasn’t until November of last year that by the Minister’s own admission she became aware of the regulation changes of BSE.
BSE Recap
In December, the minister said issue came to light in early November 2025 when the Chief Veterinary Officer was alerted by UK meat industry contacts.
Minister Clare Barber told Keys in December that her department was preparing an application for ‘negligible risk’ status, aligning with the UK.
However, the island missed the September 2025 deadline for the next WOAH meeting in May 2026, potentially pushing the process to May 2027.
During the changes in June, England, Wales, and Scotland went on to be recognised by the EU as having an improved BSE risk status.
The Isle of Man was not included in this update and is currently considered to have ‘Undetermined’ BSE risk status. However, it is not yet known at what point the island was designated to be in “its own zone”.
DEFRA told Manx.News: “The BSE NR World Organisation of Animal Health (WOAH) application is based on zones. The Isle of Man is its own zone and would need to submit its own application.”
Five Months Later
Today, the DEFA Minister stated that the changes “only became known to us in November”.
With time passing, and markets diminishing, the minister has now vowed to look at options to support farmers during this turbulent period.
Mrs Barber said: “It is fair to say that the impact for Manx farmers of the change of status is not yet fully known, and officers are working hard with stakeholders and their UK Government to understand any additional costs or challenges that may be faced by farmers as a result of the BSE status.
“My department has reactively prepared an application to woah for the Isle of Man to be considered as negligible risk status for BSE in line with the UK this has been a top priority, and a draft is now with the UK Government for review.
“Officers are currently understanding options of how we can best support our local farming industry and ensure that there is a route to market that does not leave them disadvantaged due to the process changes in UK abattoirs as a result of the BSE status change, this will evolve as we learn more about the issues and costs being faced, noting that biosecurity is another factor that can influence costs and challenges.”
‘Not Our Fault’
When asked by Glenfeba & Peel MHK Kate Lord Brennan whether DEFA had dropped the ball which resulted in the delay of risk change, Mrs Barber said: “I would first like to make it clear that within this I do not believe that DEFA has dropped a ball.
“I have made that clear when I spoke previously on this topic, when I was questioned and certainly having explored the timeline in absolute detail, I am very clear that, in fact, there are elements of information that simply were not shared with us by the UK, and those are things that I am picking up directly with my counterparts in the UK to ensure that we do not end up in such a circumstance in the future, because it is entirely avoidable and it is grossly unhelpful.
“In terms of the actual detail obviously, the change in UK status does not affect sheep, so we acknowledge that there is not an impact around the sheep market, but this does impact cattle.
“I have gone through in some detail in the other place relating to exactly what happened, but I am happy to share the full timeline with honorable members, if that would be helpful, and I think would give some background as to exactly the role we have played, but equally the significant amount of work that has been done within the animal health team, which I would put again on record my thanks to them for.”
Any Plants Take Manx Meat?
The BSE risk status has left farmers struggling to find meat plants in the UK to sell their stock to, Mrs Barber said: “At present, as I have previously explained, the situation is that there is a piece of additional work related to SRM management within the plants for our stock that is required.
“There are, to our knowledge, some abattoirs that will not be taking Isle of Man cattle. Equally, there are some abattoirs that are still taking product from the Isle of Man live livestock, and there are some that will take but may levy additional charges at the minute.
“That is a piece of work that we are continuing to work through and our big request, which we spoke just recently with the union about also, and we will be putting an update out to farmers very, very soon, would be for anyone who has information that they can share with us relating to any particular plants, to share that with DEFA animal health.
“That is predominantly because we have sought information in some areas, we have not been able to get that information. So I would be very grateful for anything that can be shared with us.”
The minister’s response can be listened to below:
