1999: T-bone steaks on sale by Christmas
The beef-on-the-bone ban will be lifted next month, the government has announced.
T-bone steaks and ribs of beef should be on sale by 17 December, just over two years since they were banned at the peak of the BSE outbreak.
Beef-on-the-bone was outlawed because scientific evidence shows it carries the highest risk of being infected with BSE, which can cause brain disease in humans.
Farmers and butchers welcomed the announcement, but the Conservatives said the ban had cost farmers millions of pounds and should have been lifted sooner.
Agriculture Minister Nick Brown told the House of Commons the change in the law had been a long time coming. "The announcement will bring a welcome relief to the beef industry in what continues to be difficult times," he said.
The ban has been lifted now because scientists have said the risk to consumers is tiny.
No beef older than 30 months is allowed into the food chain and there have been no cases of BSE in cattle under that age since the law was passed in December 1997.
Northamptonshire farmer John Richardson said he was delighted wit the decision but told the BBC the UK had to persuade other countries that meat from its cattle was BSE-free.
"British beef is the safest beef in the world now with all the controls that are in place and this is a signal that is true," he said.
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