EU vets back T-bone ban

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union veterinary chiefs have endorsed plans to curb sales of T-bone steaks amid fears of mad cow disease.

The ban on beef containing vertebral column - affecting popular cuts such as T-bone and rib eye steaks -- will apply in all 15 member states except Sweden, Finland, Austria, Britain and Portugal.

These countries have either had no known native cases of mad cow disease or have introduced extra safety checks.

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An EU official said the proposal, presented by the European Commission, was adopted by the powerful Standing Veterinary Committee meaning controls will come into force on April 1.

The official said a decision on a separate proposal to subject ruminant fats, or tallow, to pressure-cooking before their use in animal feed was postponed.

The bovine spinal cord, the primary nerve tissue along with the brain, has long been seen as the breeding and transmission ground for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.

Eating BSE-infected meat has been linked to the brain-wasting human new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

Last week EU farm commissioner Franz Fischler told European agriculture ministers that beef sales in the 15 member states were down by an average of 27 percent and still falling.

Many non-EU countries are banning imports from the EU, threatening to create a huge market surplus with no foreseeable outlet, he added.

The ministers were told that the BSE crisis is having a much worse effect than previously thought and could stretch the union's agriculture budget to breaking point.

The cost of the BSE crisis sweeping Europe has been put at three billion euros ($2.75 billion) for 2001 alone, while the surplus available in the EU budget to deal with such crises is just 1.2 billion euros, and already accounted for.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Britain steps up madcow checks
February 3, 2001
Europe slated for BSE reaction
February 1, 2001
Germany to slaughter 400,000 cattle
January 31, 2001
EU imposes stronger anti-BSE curbs
January 30, 2001

European Union: Agriculture
World Health Organisation: Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE)

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