December 5, 2005

EU seeks to end UK beef ban by early 2006

The EU is moving towards ending a 10-year UK beef export ban which was imposed after the mad cow in the 1990s, industry and EU officials said on Dec 2.

Veterinary experts from at least 10 EU countries expressed support for the removal of the British beef ban after Britain presented them with its latest BSE update at a meeting last week, though some countries such as Germany and Austria asked for more data.

The EC is planning to present a draft decision on lifting the ban in January next year, with the decision to lift the ban likely to happen by March if all goes well, said an EC official.

Britain has already fulfilled the first pre-condition for lifting the embargo with a moderate risk BSE status of fewer than 200 cattle per million each year affected with the disease.

Britain's last full year of beef exports was in 1995 when shipments amounted to 274,000 tonnes. Several schemes have been put in place to enable Britain to continue to export beef but trade has been very limited.