Ireland has become the first European Union country allowed to export beef to the United States, 17 years after Washington banned EU imports over mad cow disease.
This follows a successful inspection by US authorities of Ireland's beef production system completed in July, the Irish agriculture department said on Monday, after the ban on EU imports was formally lifted in March.
"This isn't just a new market, it's the highest value market in the world now. I'd be very disappointed if we weren't selling somewhere between 50 and 100 million euros worth of beef into the US this year," Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said in an interview with national broadcaster RTE.
The United States, the world's top buyer of beef, banned imports from the EU in 1998 following a mad cow disease, or BSE, epidemic that spread from Britain to mainland Europe.
The latest US decision clears the way for Irish authorities to approve individual beef plants to export to the United States, the Irish government said.
It did not give a date for when beef exports to the United States might resume, but said it would step up work with Irish beef plants so the trade could start as soon as possible.
A report on the US Department of Agriculture's audit of Ireland's beef slaughter inspection system, obtained by Reuters, concluded that Ireland had "consistently and effectively implemented a beef slaughter inspection system that satisfies all criteria for equivalence with the United States system."
The EU's executive Commission urged the United States to act quickly to extend the approval to the rest of the 28-nation bloc.
"This announcement sends an important and positive signal to the other EU member states who have requested the US to re-establish access to the U.S. beef market," it said in a statement.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}