The EU ban on the use of animal remains to feed pigs and chickens should be lifted so that grain can be diverted to millions of starving people, one of Europe’s top food safety advisers has told The Times.

Patrick Wall, chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, questioned whether it was “morally or ethically correct” to feed grain to animals in the midst of a global food crisis.

He said that there was no scientific reason to maintain the ban.

More than 40 heads of state meet at an emergency UN food summit today to draw up an action plan over soaring food prices, which have led to riots in Haiti, Egypt, Mexico, Tanzania and Morocco. Prices for staples such as rice, soya and wheat have risen 83 per cent in three years, making them unaffordable in the poorest countries.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, said that governments were paying the price for failing to invest in agriculture. This had led to an “alarming juncture” that could trigger economic and political crises, he said.

The EU ban was imposed after the BSE crisis in Britain in 1996, when the disease was linked to livestock eating animal products. Professor Wall said that it was now safe to lift the ban.

The European Commission is considering a plan to allow pigs to be fed poultry trimmings and chickens to be given pig meat to save farmers from buying expensive grain and have asked for Professor Wall’s advice. He told The Times: “Soya meal and other grain prices are going through the roof. Is it morally and ethically correct to be destroying this food when people are starving? No one I know is worried about the science. There is only concern about consumer reaction.”

A spokesman for Defra said that it was awaiting formal advice from the European Food Standards Agency. “We would only support the proposal if we were satisfied that there was no risk to human health and that appropriate and effective testing had taken place to control the use of such proteins in pig and poultry feed,” it said.

World leaders at the three-day summit in Rome will discuss short-term solutions, such as increasing cash aid, and strategies to deal with the effects of climate change, the growing demand for biofuels and the crumbling agriculture sector in much of the developing world.

Gordon Brown said that the food crisis should be one of the top items at the G8 summit in Japan next month. He indicated that the EU’s target to boost biofuels should be reviewed.

Aid agencies called for urgent action on trade liberalisation, biofuel targets, GM crops and cash aid.

Statistics from Brussels showed that the price of food was continuing to rise. Dairy products rose 14.9 per cent across the EU and 15.7 per cent in Britain. Cooking oils rose by 13.2 per cent in the EU, and bread and cereals by 10.7 per cent.Food prices in the EU have risen by 31 per cent since 1996.

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