The Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland is to champion the return for Irish consumers of the T-bone steak, a product that has been banned because of BSE restrictions.
The chief executive of the ACBI, Mr Pat Brady, said that while butchers were allowed to have the spinal column of cattle in their shops, they were not allowed sell it.
"It defies logic that a portion of the animal which is allowed down the food chain as far as the butcher shop is suddenly treated like Semtex when it arrives there," he said.
"The ban on sale of beef on the backbone is ludicrous and inconsistent and is being enforced by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland which does not believe it is necessary.
"The Food Safety Authority of Ireland is a science-based body which operates strictly on the basis of assessment of risk. It has concluded that there is no scientific justification for this ban and finds itself now in the preposterous position of having to enforce it," Mr Brady continued.
"In addition, on the basis that bad law discredits good law it will damage the Food Safety Authority's reputation as a scientific body and discredit the objectivity with which risk assessment is meant to be conducted."
Butchers were angry that an entirely unnecessary provision would now impose huge cost and inconvenience on butchers and deprive customers of one of the country's favourite foods, the T-bone steak on the bone.