A disgruntled reader wrote to the London Times after the British government banned beef with bone because of a possible link with BSE and, ultimately, the human version of "mad cow" disease, new variant CJD. One in 3.15 million British people had died from nvCJD, he noted, whereas one driver in 7,714 would be subjected to a road accident. He had only one thing to say: "Please pass the horseradish."
Considering the lesser risk from BSE in Ireland - it has been estimated at one in 600 million over a year - the type of BSE controls operated here and the predominant view among both food and veterinary experts, one might be tempted to add: "Please pass on the horseradish, when you are finished with it."
But there is one factor that makes Mr Cowen's warning understandable, if not justified. That is the public health scandal that has dogged the body politic of late. And with it comes liability.
Britain has BSE, with little to suggest that it has got to grips with it. Ireland has had hepatitis C - an issue with which Mr Cowen still has to live - and may have a £2 billion Army hearing loss payout to come, albeit in a worst case scenario.
Factor in the notorious unpredictability of BSE and it becomes easy to reconcile how Mr Cowen says he would have no problem eating a T-bone steak, and yet as Minister for Health he recommends that beef on the bone should no longer be sold.
His statement last week was "on public health grounds". But possible liability lurks in the background. It may not be stated but liability is probably what prompted butchers and supermarkets to have bones removed from beef cuts by Saturday morning.
Prof Dan Collins of UCD Veterinary School, who is closely involved with BSE research and diagnosis, said the risk of spinal column material from cattle reaching the Irish marketplace is "very, very slim indeed". He accepts, nonetheless, that Mr Cowen had advice he deemed necessary to act upon.
He added: "I enjoyed beef for lunch today and will take it tomorrow and the next day if I can get it."
Having not yet seen the scientific basis for the British ban, Prof Michael Gibney of Trinity College's unit of nutrition and dietetics is reserving judgment. With European food scientists, he sits on the European Commission's scientific steering committee, the EU's most influential expert group on BSE policy.
He said: "All I can say is that some of the quality assurance schemes in operation in Ireland, particularly in supermarkets, would not deter me from eating Irish beef."
The Irish Veterinary Association, whose members monitor animal-derived food production, said the warning was unwarranted. IVA spokesman Mr Bill Cashman said there could never be a 100 per cent guarantee that any food item was completely safe at all times.