Australia and New Zealand in 30-nation beef ban

Australia and New Zealand have banned all beef products from 30 countries, including all 15 EU nations, because of fears over mad cow disease.

Shops have been told to withdraw the products - mostly canned or prepared foods - and consumers advised to dispose of any they have in their cupboards.

The foods include soups, meat flavourings, pate, preserved meats and filled pasta.

Australia has already banned some foods that contained British beef in 1996 because Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) was linked to variant CJD.

"The risk to the health of Australians from the consumption of these products is extremely small," Australia's chief medical officer, Professor Richard Smallwood, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"However, we need to keep one step ahead of the BSE/vCJD situation that is causing great concern in the UK and the rest of Europe."

However, the affected products make up only about 0.2% of the beef consumed annually in Australia.

The announcement comes weeks after the Australian government banned blood donations from people who had lived in Britain for more than six months in the 1980s.