THE introduction of a voluntary scheme for labelling of beef has been condemned as a tax on butchers by Jim Laird, president of the National Federation of Meat & Food Traders.

Speaking at the English-based federation's annual conference in Durham, Laird attacked the creation of an ''industry within an industry'' - a bureaucracy for identification and traceability creating jobs and businesses which could only be ''parasites on the back of the meat industry''.

The voluntary scheme, a forerunner of European legislation which will make labelling compulsory from January 2000, would impose a tax on butchers, the cost of which would fall on the customer, he argued. For those involved in verifying details of age, origin or breed mentioned on labels the new scheme would be tantamount to a licence to print money.

''This is a tax on butchers through the back door, which is ultimately a tax on our customers,'' he said. ''Why should butchers have to pay hundreds or thousands of pounds to prove that what they said about their beef was true?''

Laird said butchers had played a major role in rebuilding the image of British beef and beef products.

However, there was still some way to go to restore the situation that existed before 1996.

He conceded proposals for the licensing of butcher shops could be an extension of the requirement for registration with a local authority.

Provided safeguards were written into the legislation, a licence could pull up sloppy firms by their bootstraps. The prospect of an annual licence fee of #100 per shop was not acceptable, he insisted.

Licensing was designed to ensure public health and should be financed from central funds.

He pointed out, however, that butchers were not the only source of food poisoning.

''What about caterers? What about domestic cooking. Why should butchers be singled out for licensing,'' he said.