European Union (EU) food security experts on Wednesday agreed in
Brussels to lift a 10-year export ban on British beef introduced
during the 1990s mad cow crisis.
The removal of the ban was unanimously approved at a meeting of
the Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health of the
25-member European bloc.
"The UK has made great strides in tackling this disease, and has
met all of the criteria that were set for the lifting of the beef
export ban," EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection
Markos Kyprianou said in a statement.
"We must now acknowledge this and resume normal trade in this
area," he said.
According to EU rules, the European Parliament has 30 days to
examine the experts' decision, which also applies to British
exports of live cattle and calves.
British beef exports to the other EU members were halted in 1996
as brain-wasting Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), widely
known as mad cow disease, spread through the country.
Up to 150 people are believed to have fallen victim to BSE, or
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, after eating tainted meat.
The ban ravaged Britain's beef industry, whose main market was
France. In 1995, Britain shipped some 274,000 tonnes of beef to the
other EU members at a value of ￡ 520 million(US$905 million).
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)
