British beef is finally making its way back onto global menus after veterinary experts agreed to lift an export ban imposed exactly ten years ago at the height of the BSE crisis.

The ban has cost the industry at least £3.5 billion in lost trade and control measures since it was introduced in March 1996.

Farmers toasted the decision of the body, which must now be rubber-stamped by the European Parliament within 30 days. Britain will then be able to export live cattle born after 1 August 1996, and bovine meat and products produced after 15 June 2005.

Peter Kendall, President of the National Farmers Union, said: "This is the most positive news for the British beef industry in a decade. We can now look forward to recapturing the £675 million market that was lost when the ban was put in place."

Markos Kyprianou, the European Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, praised the UK industry for taking stringent measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

He said: "The commission has taken no chances when it has come to dealing with BSE and the most stringent monitoring and control measures have been applied.

"However, the UK has made great strides in tackling this disease and has met all of the criteria that were set for the lifting of the beef export ban, in line with scientific and veterinary advice."

He added: "We must now acknowledge this and resume normal trade in this area."

Around 150 people have contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) from infected meat since May 1990. The most recent analysis suggests that the infection has passed its peak.

The ban was partially lifted in 1999, technically making it possible for Britain to export some beef but the existance of restrictions made trade complex and tainted sales.

Brussels considered lifting the ban in September 2005 after experts said the number of cases in Britain of bovine spongiform encephalopathy had fallen below 200 per one million animals.

The epidemic was first identified in 1986 and about 185,000 BSE cases have been confirmed in Britain since. The latest annual report, published in 2005, from the National CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh showed that 148 people had died from the disease up to the end of December, 2004.

An examination of vCJD cases and deaths during the period January 1994 to December 2004 provided ``statistically significant evidence that a peak in the incidence of vCJD has been passed'', the experts said.

The global export ban on UK cattle, meat and products, has been in place since March 1996. In 1999 the ban was eased to allow de-boned beef and beef products to be exported under strictly controlled conditions.

Only beef and products from cattle born after August 1996 could be exported as long as the animals were between six and 30 months old and did not come from a BSE-infected herd.

Under today's agreement - once endorsed officially by the Commission - UK farmers will be allowed to resume exports of all live animals born after August 1, 1996.

A government spokesman commented: "This is excellent news for the British beef industry. We know our beef is as safe as any produced elsewhere in the European Union."

Jim Paice, the Shadow Agriculture Minister, said: "Thank goodness that this black period for our beef industry is over. British beef is amongst the best and safest in the world. Now it is essential that the Government does all it can to facilitate beef and livestock exports."