Ministers may lift a ban introduced during the BSE crisis on the use of animal remains in feed for farmed chickens and pigs over fears that foreign producers are undercutting British farmers.

A consultation on permitting the use of processed animal protein (PAP) from poultry, pigs and insects has opened in Scotland, and it is understood that proposals will be made for England and Wales in the coming months.

The EU banned the use of mammalian PAP in cattle and sheep feed 30 years ago after the emergence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow disease.

The ban was expanded in January 2001 to include the use of all PAP in the feed of animals farmed for food.