The British government adopted a reassuring tone yesterday, insisting there was no evidence to justify banning French beef products.
There had been concern over cases of BSE in France and reports that infected beef from France and other EU countries could get into the food chain.
Resisting pressure from the Conservatives, who are calling for a "precautionary ban" on French beef, Downing Street said there was no reason to impose a ban and there was no evidence that infected beef was getting through to Britain.
Spot checks on beef imports failed to show any evidence that infected beef was being imported, Downing Street said, but the situation would be kept under review.
The London Times claimed yesterday that - following the publication of a report by the Food Standards Agency on Friday, which said there was no reason to ban French beef - the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Nick Brown, wrote to the prime minister warning him there was a risk that meat from cattle over 30 months old may be sold in supermarkets.
He also warned the government that legal loopholes meant older French beef products could be legally imported into Britain, after being cut and packed in other EU countries.
It is illegal to sell beef over 30 months old for human consumption but some farmers and members of the meat industry believe old meat may be present in products at the cheaper end of the market, such as pies, burgers and Indian meals.
The National Farmers' Union played down Mr Brown's warning, saying the minister was describing a hypothetical situation should beef imports become untraceable or the British pound become so strong that some farmers might try to abuse the law. The French government gave an assurance that beef over 30 months old, in herds where BSE infection is suspected, was not being exported.
But the Conservative spokesman on agriculture, Mr Tim Yeo, insisted that as British consumers did not know if they were eating meet products containing beef older than 30 months, a temporary ban would be justified.
EU ministers in Brussels finally agreed a wide-ranging testing programme for BSE which could see up to six million cattle across Europe tested for the disease in an attempt to boost public confidence in farming practices and hygiene. The EU Commissioner for Health and Public Hygiene, Mr David Byrne, said that from January all at-risk cattle over 30 months old would be randomly tested for BSE.
Reuters adds:
Anxiety over BSE has prompted the Czech Republic to join the embargo on French meat.
Paris offered beef farmers and traders close to £400 million to compensate for a 40 per cent drop in sales, sparked last month when three supermarket chains removed beef from their shelves over fears it might be contaminated with the disease.
The prime minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, said the mayors of several French towns had made the national "psychosis" worse by removing beef from school canteens.