French chefs to sample controls

TOP French chefs last night suggested that the row over British beef was "political" and that French consumers were ready to eat it.

The chefs spoke out in advance of their fact-finding beef visit to Britain tomorrow and Wednesday as guests of the Prince of Wales and the Meat and livestock Commission.

Roger Vérge, 70, Michelin Star chef at Le Moulin de Mougins in Mougins on the French Riviera said: "The French are very greedy and this argument is all about economics and politics. I am certain that French people will wish to reaquaint themselves with the British meat."

Jacques Cagna, 57, another Michelin star chef, who owns the Jacques Cagna restaurant in Paris said: "I want to buy it, but I’m not allowed to."

Luigi Sforzellini, chef at Rocco Forte’s new Hotel de Russie in Rome said that he was now confident the meat was safe and ate it recently at Harry's Bar in London.

Jean-Michel Lorain, 41, chef at La Côte Sainte-Jacques in Joigny, near Auxerre, said that the French needed to be reassured about the controls on British beef and that he was looking forward to seeing how they worked.

The Prince will greet the party at Grove Farm, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, where Douglas and Anna Scott own a 300-head herd of South Devon brown cattle.

Mr Scott, 64, said: "My wife and I were in Switzerland recently and when we tried to broach the subject the reaction was, 'English beef, they are all mad cows and very dangerous'. This is what we are up against."