The United States will permit imports of Irish beef, 15 years after a mad cow disease halted shipments. According to ABC News, The U.S. lifted its ban on beef from the EU in March 2014, but inspections are necessary before exports are allowed to resume.
Simon Coveney, Ireland's minister for agriculture, food and the marine, issued a statement announcing that access to the lucrative U.S. market will be restored after American authorities inspected Ireland's beef production systems last year. Authorities estimate annual exports could be worth at least 25 million euros ($30 million).
The European Commission praised the move, saying it sent a positive signal to other EU member states and that the "re-opening of the market is a welcome first step to abolish the disproportionate and unjustified" U.S. ban that followed the onset of the crisis in the 1990s.
