A NORTH Yorkshire farmer has been found guilty of failing to test his cattle for the infectious disease, bovine tuberculosis (TB).

Farmer Paul Parvin, from Sessay near Thirsk, was convicted at Northallerton Magistrates’ Court for breaching disease control regulations by failing to test his animals for the contagious disease.

The magistrates' ruling, on Monday, followed an investigation by North Yorkshire County Council’s Trading Standards Service.

The local authority had been notified following a referral from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) after the agency discovered he appeared not have routinely tested his cattle for bovine TB.

Mr Parvin did not attend court and the case was heard in his absence.

He was convicted and fined £660 by Northallerton Magistrates.

Routine herd tests form part of the government’s bovine TB eradication programme.

The county council said Bovine TB is estimated to have cost the taxpayer £500 million nationally in the last ten years.

The disease is normally picked up in compulsory cattle testing before physical signs of the disease develop and occasionally is detected during inspections of slaughtered cattle.

Humans can catch bovine TB through unpasteurised milk or dairy products from an infected animal or inhaling bacteria breathed out by infected animals or from their carcasses.

But the risk of infection remains very low for the vast majority of the population.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Andrew Lee, executive member for Trading Standards, said: “This conviction demonstrates the importance the county council gives to its role in protecting both public health and the livestock industry from the potential spread of tuberculosis.

“The county council will continue to work with the Animal and Plant Health Agency to safeguard the farming industry in North Yorkshire.”

Dr Leonardo Benito-de-Valle, veterinary adviser for field delivery with APHA, said: “By his actions, Mr Parvin has seriously undermined those central policies which are aimed at protecting the cattle population and the farming industry in areas such as North Yorkshire that is currently a low-incidence area for bovine TB.”