PARIS: France has become the fourth EU Member State to gain clearance to export beef to the US market.
In January 2015, Ireland was the first Member State to gain approval to the US market. Since then it has been joined by the Netherlands, Lithuania and now, France.
A statement today, January 16, from the European Commission said that the US has announced the lifting of the embargo on imports of beef from France.
The Commission welcomes this decision which it says represents a new stage in reopening a closed market since the crisis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the 90s.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, has said that after similar decisions taken for Ireland, Lithuania and the Netherlands, the Commission welcomes the decision of the United States to authorise imports of beef from France.