The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) last night advised consumers not to eat any beef products labelled "Made in Germany" or "Produced in Germany" because of the threat of BSE.
It has instructed retailers to remove all such products from shelves.
Dr Patrick Wall, head of the FSAI, said the advice was being issued due to concerns relating to lack of BSE controls in Germany until recently.
These concerns had been raised by the EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, with the German authorities.
Last night the German Health Minister, Mr Andreas Fischer, wrote to Mr Byrne, saying that the German meat industry, retailers, wholesalers and exporters had made a commitment to extend their own national recall measures to products exported to other EU member states and elsewhere in the world.
Germany has had five cases of BSE in its herd since October 20th last.
Yesterday authorities in Ireland were playing down the significance of the latest figures for BSE here, showing 20 cases in the last month, bringing to a record 149 the number of cases this year.
Dr Wall for the Food Safety Authority, said the major food retailers in the Republic had advised him that they did not stock German beef products and he believed there was only a small amount of such material imported here. He said pork and other products were not affected.
A spokesman for the German-owned supermarket chain, Aldi, said last night that none of the beef in its Irish stores was German. Aldi Irish stores said it sources its beef products in Ireland or Britain only.