Test announcement aimed at achieving status of low BSE risk country

Beginning from September 1, meat from any cow in Poland over 24 months of age that is slaughtered will be tested to make sure it is not infected with BSE, deputy agriculture minister Robert Gmyrek announced yesterday in Brussels. The action will last for at least four months and will cost nearly zl.68 million. The introduction of the tests, which are even stricter than in other European countries, is aimed at persuading the EU to designate Poland as a country with low BSE risk. Gmyrek also expressed the hope that the Polish parliament would quickly pass the veterinary law, a move that would speed up negotiations in the agriculture chapter on Poland's EU entry. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B2) M.K.