Brussels - European Union veterinary experts on Wednesday failed to give sufficient backing to a proposal to ease the two-year-old ban on British beef exports, imposed over mad cow disease, an EU official said.
The member states' chief veterinarians were divided over Britain's Export Certified Herds Scheme, under which a limited resumption in beef exports would be allowed from Northern Ireland alone. The scheme will now be put to EU agriculture ministers on March 16-17 for a decision.
"There was a vote but the qualified majority needed wasn't reached," the EU official said, adding he thought there had been a simple majority of the 15-member states in favour.
Britain has argued the operation of a computer database in Northern Ireland would guarantee that any beef exports could be traced to herds free of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) or mad cow disease.
The ECHS plan allows exports from animals which the database can prove have been in a herd free of BSE for at least eight years.
On Tuesday, the British parliament's agriculture committee said scientific assessments on the safety of British beef were taking second place in the EU to political considerations.
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