05/01/2015

Irish Beef To Be Exported To US

Irish beef is to be exported to the US, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, has confirmed.

The announcement follows a successful inspection by American authorities of Ireland's beef production systems last year.

Ireland is the first EU member state to achieve access to the US market.

Beef from the EU has been banned from the US for more than 15 years after restrictions relating to BSE were put in place. The ban was formally lifted in March 2014.

The decision now clears the way for Irish authorities to approve individual beef plants in Ireland to export to the US, and this approval will be based on agreed criteria with their US counterparts. The US Department of Agriculture has said it has been working with interested parties "for some time".

Welcoming the introduction of Irish beef to the US market, Minister Coveney said he was "delighted".

"This is the culmination of two years of intensive work between my Department and our US counterparts to prove our credentials as a supplier of highest quality premium beef," he commented. "I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my US counterpart Secretary of State Tom Vilsack with whom I've worked very closely on this issue to bring it to this stage."

(JP/CD)

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