Mistakes that led to the BSE crisis must never be made again - and farmers are determined to continue learning the lessons of the tragedy.

So says North Yorkshire farmers' leader Ben Gill, following the publication of the BSE report, in which civil servants and ministers were criticised for their handling of the crisis.

Mr Gill, president of the National Farmers Union, who farms near Easingwold, said: "British agriculture has turned itself inside out to learn from this tragedy.

"Farming today is wiser and more capable than ever before of producing the safest food possible.

"This report must mark a watershed in the way we deal with food safety issues in the future."

He said the public recognised efforts already made.

"Consumption of beef is now higher than it was before 1996."

Dr Will Patterson, consultant in public health medicine for North Yorkshire Health Authority, who has spoken out before on the risks to public health from BSE, said the country still needed an independent public health voice that the public could have confidence in and trust.

He said initiatives such as the creation of the Food Standards Agency would address food safety issues, but added: "The next public health challenge might be nothing to do with food."

Meanwhile, Barry and Betty Hodgkinson, the Harrogate parents of Adrian Hodgkinson, who died of variant CJD in 1997, have welcomed the BSE report, describing it as "concise, detailed, a good report ... absolutely spot-on" - although Mr Hodgkinson still felt it slightly white-washed the role played in the crisis by certain individuals within the Government.

The couple said they were pleased at the Government's decision to pay compensation to them and other families of CJD victims, and to set up care packages for future victims of the disease.

He said he and Betty planned to spend the weekend reading a 150-page summary of the report's findings.