IT may well be the case that beef deep frozen and carefully stored for

six years is ''absolutely safe'', as Ministry of Agriculture spokesmen

and experts say. Many people will have doubts. Should they be sold the

food without any mention of its age? Today's beef producers should be as

worried about this development as consumers, for beef consumption is

already under pressure from the health-conscious move away from red

meat. If would-be buyers suspect that what they are being offered in

their butchers is so old, they will be deterred from purchase. If the

meat involved were clearly labelled, as it should be, it would have to

be sold for far less than the normal rate, but it is perfectly possible

that even cut-price beef of this age would not be sold at all.

The meat involved is part of the EC's food mountain and part of the

consequence of the Common Agricultural Policy which encouraged the

over-production of foodstuffs to the general detriment of those who have

to buy them. The cost of warehousing this beef for six years would

already make it far dearer than fresh produce, but sales now would at

least recover part of that cost, whereas disposal would lose everything,

and an alternative use (in pet food, for example) would hardly save very

much. The argument that beef benefits from long keeping is misleading:

not many gourmets or chefs would think beef improved after about six

months. The Consumers' Association is right to say that it is

''nonsense'' to offer beef this old without warning, and reassurance

that it is indeed absolutely safe.

That guarantee would have to come from sources other than the

government-sponsored Meat and Livestock Commission. Even then many would

not be tempted. It would be better if the

beef were recalled and classed as unfit for human consumption. Any

resultant loss would not be the first of the

financial consequences of the CAP which is, fortunately, in the throes

of reform.