The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, has set himself on a collision course with Germany's farming lobby. He is insisting that consumer protection and ecological farming will take priority over industrial farming in his newly organised Agriculture and Food Safety Ministry.
Intensive farming methods, promoted by the German Agricultural Federation (DBV), contradict the interests of consumers and are primarily to blame for the spread of BSE in Germany, Mr Schroder said.
"From now on farm policy must be conceived from the shop counter," the Chancellor told Stern news magazine. "The vociferations of the officials of the agri-industry lobby are not my problem," he said later.
But Mr Schroder's comments were attacked as inconsistent by the head of Germany's agriculture federation.
"It is not long since Mr Schroder called on farmers to increase their competitiveness," said Mr Helmut Born, on national radio yesterday, adding it was "too much" for Mr Schroder to start championing consumer rights.
To date 10 cases of BSE have been discovered in German-born cows less than three months after the first case was discovered. Consumers have lost confidence in German beef, with sales falling by up to 80 per cent in some areas.
On Wednesday, Mr Schroder appointed Ms Renate Kunast of the Green Party to head the federal agriculture ministry, promising new powers to protect consumers and encourage safer food production.
While the agricultural lobby gave a stiff welcome to Ms Kunast, a Berlin-born lawyer with a background as an ecological activist, the opposition Christian Democrats were less gracious.
"Your Sunday roast knows about as much about farm policy as Ms Kunast," said Mr Peter Carstensen, the head of the parliament's food committee. "We shouldn't see this type of farming as a panacea against health scares such as BSE," he said.
The federal government has published a policy paper promising DM500 million (£200 million) in grants to boost ecological farming.
But Mr Schroder warned yesterday that moving away from Germany's traditionally heavily industrial farming methods would make food more expensive.
