No date set to lift ban on cattle

Marts: A date has yet to be finalised for the lifting of the ban on over 30 months cattle from the food chain in Britain, but the process to remove the restriction is finally under way and likely to be completed during the second quarter of 2005.

The removal of the ban - which has been in place since the BSE outbreak - will have implications for the supply of Irish beef to Britain, where it has established a significant market for more than one-third of production, which has been giving a good return to Irish beef processors.

In the House of Commons the British Government has announced the ban, which has been responsible for keeping nearly 190,000 tonnes per annum of British beef out of the food chain in Britain in recent years, is to be phased out.