China imposes ban on UK beef following BSE case

China has announced that it is imposing a ban on imports of British beef following the confirmation of a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Somerset last month. The announcement was made yesterday, Monday, October 11, and the ban took effect from September 29, according to a statement on the official WeChat account of the General Administration of Customs. Reuters has reported the ban will apply to British beef from cattle under 30 months of age. Reuters outlined that the move comes despite the fact that China has yet to restart buying beef from the UK after agreeing in 2019 to lift a ban on British beef imposed in the 1990s during earlier outbreaks of mad cow disease. The single case of classical BSE was confirmed on a farm in Somerset on September 17. In a statement on the matter, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the animal in question was dead and was removed from the farm, stressing that the incident caused no risk to ...