The advice from the Minister for Health that people should not eat beef on the bone because of the possible risk of the human form of mad cow disease is expected to have much the same effect as an outright ban on selling it. Beef on the bone will disappear from the vast majority of butchers' shops, supermarkets and restaurants.
When the British ban was announced because of fears that BSE could be transmitted in bone marrow, food authorities and retailers here immediately made the distinction between Ireland and Britain in terms of risk.
British authorities deemed that beef on the bone was to be no more, and numerous related products were to be included in the ban. On the issue of whether a similar ban should operate, Irish veterinary experts and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland initially said the risk in food safety terms was considerably different.
The British government last night said the ban would take effect from December 16th after a consultation period ending on December 12th.
Mr Cowen said on Wednesday he would examine the implications of the British ban. Having spoken to his colleagues at an EU Council of Health Ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday, it was decided that Irish consumers should be advised not to consume beef on the bone, though he stopped short of a ban.
His advice to consumers took the form of a basic recommendation against eating beef on the bone. It came without precise information on what cuts and products are involved.
Consumers do make the distinction between risk in Britain and here, the Irish Master Butchers' Federation insisted. This was reflected in beef consumption levels here climbing back to pre-March 1996 levels (when BSE rocked the European meat trade).
Many British outlets immediately applied the ban voluntarily. Multiples like Tesco and Sainsbury's removed beef-on-the-bone products from shelves. Many food businesses were confused over which products were affected.
Some consumers bought up large quantities of T-bone steaks, ribbed beef and oxtails in advance of the ban. Gelatin - made from beef bones and used in sweets and biscuits - would only be allowed if "satisfactorily demonstrated as BSE-free", the British Department of Agriculture declared, likewise gravy products. It is unclear what attitude the Department of Health will take on this aspect.
British restaurants will not be allowed to sell consomme cooked with bone. Fresh oxtail comes under the ban but oxtail soup makers stressed it was made from de-boned meat. Beef brains, eyes, spinal cord, nervous tissue, thymus, spleen, tonsils and intestines are already banned.
There are stark differences between the beef industry here and its British equivalent. With a herd of seven million, the vast majority of animals generated here are from a grass-based system, unlike the more intensive operations in Britain where the use of high-risk meat and bonemeal was predominant. Ireland banned such feed in 1990 but discovered during the past 18 months the risk of cross-contamination, where such products are made for the white meat trade.
This was blamed for recent BSE cases, though the Irish total of fewer than 300 cases contrasts sharply with Britain where there have been nearly 200,000 cases from a herd of 12 million. The Irish slaughter policy is significantly tighter and it is thought BSE here may have peaked.
In addition, the difference in case numbers "is a major consideration in assessing the consequences of the new findings", the Department of Agriculture said in response to the ban. It noted the ban was based on experiments differing considerably from normal field conditions.
An IMBF spokesman, Mr Eugene Kierans, said there was no basis for restrictions on beef with bone in Ireland. In any event, butchers here de-boned virtually all beef.
Meat cooked on the bone was "simply gorgeous" but with the advent of convenience foods, bones were removed for ease of cooking. Customers were becoming "somewhat exasperated" by food scares which were often unsubstantiated and over-exaggerated, he said. "Consumers have confidence in their family butcher. They trust us. We held the line when the BSE crisis broke. We don't sell lawnmowers, buckets or knickers. We just sell beef and that is what we are good at."
Supermarket multiples predicted the ban would have no direct impact on their operations. They sell only Irish beef and consider the BSE risk here to be minuscule in comparison to Britain. However, Mr Cowen's advice last night will cause the withdrawal of beef on the bone from food outlets and in restaurants.