The European Commission has been advised to ease restrictions governing the removal from cattle of tissues most at risk of transmitting the BSE infection to humans.
Under EU regulations so-called Specified Risk Materials (SRMs) - which include the brain, spinal cord, eyes and intestines - must be removed from cattle over 12 months old that are for human consumption.
But a drop in the number of new cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has prompted experts to advise the commission that the age limit could be raised from 12 to 21 months.
The expected decision to increase the age limit is likely to be opposed by some EU consumer groups but will be welcomed by the beef processing industry as it would ease costs.
A change in the regulations might also mean that T-bone steak, banned in 2000-2001, could be back on meat shelves across Europe.
Last week the European Food Safety Authority's scientific panel on biological hazards recommended that the age for the removal of SRMs could be raised.
The panel found that although it was unlikely that the central nervous system in cattle under 30 months would be infected, the EU's scientific steering committee had taken a cautious approach in 2000 when it set the age for removal of SRMs at 12 months.
Epidemiological data show that the average age of BSE-positive cases reported to the EU had increased from 86 months to 108 months between 2001 and 2004, most likely due to the introduction of effective control measures.
Furthermore, only four BSE cases under the age of 35 months had been reported since 2001 and the minimum age of animals detected every year with the disease had risen steadily from 28 to 42 months over the same period.
According to the EFSA, studies showed that cattle incubating BSE could become infectious later in the incubation period than previously thought - during the last quarter of incubation, before the disease becomes detectable.
The panel concluded that raising to 30 months the age at which SRMs should be removed would be a considerable but not an absolute safety margin.
"Alternatively, raising the age limit at which SRMs should be removed to 21 months would cover even the youngest animals detected with the disease since monitoring began in 2001, and would thus be a more cautious approach," it said in a report.
It added that based on the scientific assessment, the European Commission will now consider if changes to the 12-month age limit should be proposed and if so, at which age the limit should be set.
SRMs also include the dorsal root ganglia and eyes. The tonsils and intestines from all cattle are removed regardless of age and this material is rendered down and incinerated.