DNA testing regime is discussed

A Scottish nationwide cattle DNA testing scheme would not only add to the country’ s reputation for traceability but could also allow the whole beef production industry to take major steps forward in both economic and environmental performance.

Speaking about a Quality Meat Scotland project to evaluate such an approach, the organisation’s director of external affairs, Sarah Miller, told yesterday’s conference on the importance of food provenance in the post-brexit world that while the costs of testing individual animals from around the country might be high, across a ten year timescale such an investment would be massively outweighed by the rewards.

Sarah Miller said: “While the cost of setting up and running a DNA testing approach is likely to be around £46.3 million over a ten year period, QMS has estimated that the bene - fits - which would be both large and cumulative - could be in the region of £160 million over the same period – that’s a 350% return on investment over the period.”

The current project to evaluate such an approach – which had been running over the past year despite the effects of Covid – was, according to Miller, likely to be completed by next February.

That is when a report highlighting how both the economic performance for producers and the wider improvements imparted to the environment as a whole through more efficient utilisation of resources would be drawn up.

Sarah Miller also added that the t win benefits of moving towards greater sustainability had been recognised in the recent suck le r beef climate change report.