Tories are demanding that French beef is taken off council menus - even though it is claimed none is served anyway.

Conservatives are putting down a motion at the full meeting of Oxfordshire County Council on November 16 calling for French beef to be banned in schools and old people's homes until there is evidence that it is safe.

The motion is in response to evidence that French cattle have been fed human and animal sewage.

Tory group leader Keith Mitchell said: "I think that the public are worried. They have seen the dangers of BSE and they can't distinguish between the two scares. "There is a concern that we ought to address this. I don't think the Government has given us enough information. We are erring on the side of safety."

But council officials insisted that French beef was already off the menu.

Jackie Hayes, the council's operational development manager, said: "We are only serving British beef less than 30 months old."

But she added: "It would be impossible to say whether there were other French products. We buy a lot of frozen products and our suppliers buy from a lot of different sources." Told that no French beef was served, Tory education spokesman Douglas Spencer said: "We are making a political point. You don't want to believe everything the council tells you."

European Union scientific experts were due to meet today to pass judgment on the safety of British beef, which the French claim still carries the risk of BSE.

If they strongly back Britain, legal action could be taken by the EU against France for banning the sale of British beef.

Story date: Thursday 28 October

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