London - Britain plans to end its ban on beef-on-the bone by Christmas after chief medical officers recommended yesterday that the domestic embargo be lifted, officials said.
The Agriculture Minister, Mr Nick Brown, was to make a statement to parliament later yesterday setting a target date for the ban to be lifted.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland gave the all-clear yesterday for an end to the ban.
Germany will lift its embargo on British beef by February at the earliest, the Health Minister, Ms Andrea Fischer, said late yesterday. The European Commission had given Germany until today to present a timetable for the lifting of the embargo.