British beef and lamb will back on the menu in the US by January after reaching a draft agreement with the UK, the Government will announce on Wednesday.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that the US will once again import British red meats nearly two decades after they were deemed unfit for consumption and banned during the height of the UK's "mad cow disease" scandal.

The decision is set to be the UK's first major foreign trade deal reached since the vote to leave the EU, and will boost the economy by ￡35 million a year according to estimates by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

“The US decision to press ahead with proposals to lift export restrictions on British lamb is great news for our farmers”
Farming Minister, George Eustice

The agreement was reached after the British Government handing the US a 1,000 page dossier in April, detailing greatly improved standards on British farms in the years since the BSE scandal.

Following a 60-day consultation period in which the US Government will seek to confirm whether the UK meets its food safety and animal health standards, British beef and lamb are on track to be available for US consumers by early 2017.

Speaking at the opening of the flagship National Sheep Association (NSA) show in Malvern, Worcestershire, the Minister of State will confirm the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published proposals to relax import restrictions on beef and lamb.

At the event, Farming Minister George Eustice will say: “The US decision to press ahead with proposals to lift export restrictions on British lamb is great news for our farmers who are one step closer to gaining access to the lucrative American market, worth an estimated ￡35 million a year.

"Our world-leading food and drink industry is a key part of our nation’s economic success and in addition to forging good trade deals with our European neighbours, we want to secure more export opportunities in the States as well as with our close friends in the Commonwealth and other countries around the world.”

Phil Stocker, chief executive of the NSA, said: “It is very encouraging that the USA is interested in opening its doors. Lamb sales in the USA have dropped over the years, as a result of a falling domestic production base, and we would like to see British lamb exported and promoted to boost consumption."

Charles Sercombe, livestock board chairman at the National Farmer's Union, which represents British farmers, said: “The US is potentially a huge and affluent market that has strong links to the UK as we share history and language.”

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

CJD is caused by an abnormal infectious protein in the brain called a prion. Normal (harmless) prion proteins are found in almost all body tissues, but at highest levels in brain and nerve cells.

The exact role of the normal prion proteins is unknown, but it's thought they may play a role in transporting messages between certain brain cells. The different types of CJD are all caused by a build-up of prions in the brain. However, the reason why this happens is different for each type.

Variant CJD (vCJD)

There's clear evidence that variant CJD (vCJD) is caused by the same strain of prions that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or 'mad cow disease').

In 2000, a government inquiry concluded that the prion was spread through cattle that were fed meat-and-bone mix containing traces of infected brains or spinal cords. The prion then ended up in processed meat products, such as beef burgers, and entered the human food chain.

Strict controls have been in place since 1996 to prevent BSE entering the human food chain and the use of meat-and-bone mix has since been outlawed. It appears that not everyone who is exposed to BSE-infected meat will go on to develop vCJD.

All definite cases of vCJD occurred in people with a specific version (MM) of the prion protein gene, which affects how the body makes a number of amino acids. It's estimated that up to 40 per cent of the UK population have this version of the gene.

Cases of vCJD peaked in the year 2000, in which there were 28 deaths from this type of CJD. There were no confirmed deaths in 2014. Some experts believe that the food controls have worked and that further cases of vCJD will continue to decline, but this doesn't rule out the possibility that other cases may be identified in future. It's also possible for vCJD to be transmitted by blood transfusion, although this is very rare and measures have been put in place to reduce the risk of it happening.

Source: NHS Choices

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/26/usa-set-to-import-british-beef-and-lamb-for-the-first-time-in-20/