The Irish EU Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, will today recommend a complete ban on all mechanically recovered meat entering the food chain.
The recommendation which will be put to the Agricultural Council of EU agricultural ministers today follows a strong recommendation from the EU's scientific steering committee.
The meat, which is obtained through mechanically processing bones is generally used for low grade burgers. The Council will also be asked to discuss a possible ban on T-bone steaks.
Mr Byrne, who addressed a meeting on food safety here, is insistent that all possible precautions to avoid BSE entering the food chain must be taken.
The ban if implemented would be further bad news for meat processors who would need to change all their processes.
However, Mr Byrne has to make the recommendation as the steering committee found that it is impossible to guarantee that no parts of the brain or spinal column can get mixed up with other bones in the recovering process.
The committee also said consideration should be given to banning the T-bone steak, a cut which is close to the spinal column, in higher risk states such as France, Germany, Ireland, the UK, Spain and Italy.
Mr Byrne is also set to announce tough new legislation for more general food poisoning issues over the coming months.
He said there are over 300,000 cases of salmonella and campylobacter every year.
"It is clear that there are public health and economic grounds for action." He also told the meeting that food safety measures should not be a reaction to a scare but an essential component of a new food production and consumption model. He also pointed out that few people would refuse to take GM medicines but yet are very wary of eating GM foodstuffs.
Sir John Krebs, chairman of the UK Food Standards Agency said no one has died from GM foods so far.
But he admitted the BSE crisis was badly handled in the UK due to secrecy and a "culture of sedation" and the government's failure to revise its stance when new scientific evidence was found.
