THE Department of Agriculture is to investigate reports that 200 tonnes of Irish beef to the public in Alma Ata, the capital of Kazakhstan, is being recalled by the authorities.
A report carried by the ItarTass agency on Friday last said raids have been begun in Kazakhstan to remove from trade Irish exported beef infected with "the encephalitis virus".
A Kazakh senior veterinary official, Mr Zheltispai Akhmetov, told Itar Tass that some 200 tonnes of beef was believed to have been brought to Alma Ata.
The report said radio and television were carrying appeals for people to turn in all household stores of the beef for disposal.
The Irish beef was sold in Alma Ata at prices 30 to 50 per cent lower than domestic beef, the report added.
The "infected" beef, it said, was imported through a Berek farm in the Southern Kazakhstan region, bypassing veterinary controls and the ban on beef from European Union states introduced in Kazakhstan a month ago.
In Dublin, a Department of Agriculture spokesman said that there would be concern if the beef was indeed" Irish, but checks yesterday could not confirm this.
"We cannot rule out the possibility of beef going to that area but we think it is unlikely, or else it may be foreign beef labelled as Irish. If it is Irish beef it cannot be infected with BSE," he said.
The spokesman added that Kazakhstan had banned the import of beef from Europe as far back as 1995 and the Department had written to the authorities there outlining reasons why such a ban should not be imposed on Ireland.
"It is possible that the authorities may have been responding to demands from local producers because exporters from Europe are paid a subsidy of 64p per lb for putting beef into that region and that is bound to cause local resentment," he said.