Agency helps farmers prevent lead poisoning

More than half of incidents on farms reported to the Agency are caused by lead exposure and poisoning each year. These incidents put animal health and food safety at risk.

Lead poisoning can kill or cause sickness in cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and some other animals. Cattle can die suddenly, become infertile or show signs of nervous disease and blindness.

Exposure to lead in these animals can also raise lead levels in meat, offal and milk above the legal and safe limits, making it illegal for these products to go into the food chain.

Last year, 2,500 animals in the UK were withheld from the food chain because of the risk of lead poisoning.

As a primary producer, farmers can play a crucial role in protecting the human food chain. They can:

• check fields and barns regularly for vehicle batteries, burnt-out cars and old machinery
• watch out for fly-tipping
• check for flaky lead paint and putty
• make sure animals can’t access bonfire ash, piping and flashing
• keep animals' soil consumption as low as possible

Other sources of lead include electric fencing batteries, lead shot and lead mining soil heaps.

To order a hard copy of the leaflet, contact Food Standards Agency Publications, quoting the appropriate code (see below for codes):

tel: 0845 606 0667
minicom: 0845 606 0678
fax: 020 8867 3225
email: foodstandards@ecgroup.co.uk

Leaflet codes:

UK version: FSA/1315/0209
Welsh language version: FSA/1316/0309
Scottish version: FSA/1317/0309
Northern Ireland version: FSA/1318/0309