Egypt's sudden ban on Irish beef was as much of a surprise for Irish officials in Cairo as it was for Irish cattle breeders and traders, an Embassy spokesman said yesterday.
"We were surprised that the change came so suddenly and without prior consultation", Mr Brendan Ward, first secretary at the Irish Embassy, told The Irish Times.
In a meeting with the Irish Ambassador, Mr Peter Gunning, yesterday morning, the head of Egypt's veterinary services, Mr Hassan Aideross, indicated the ban was a temporary measure taken after the recent discovery of BSE in European countries previously thought to have been free of the disease.
He acknowledged Ireland's efforts to keep its cattle free from BSE but he said he could not exempt it from the ban at the present time. He also declined to say how long the ban would last.
Mr Gunning said experts from Ireland were ready to travel to Egypt at any time to discuss the technical aspects of the measures taken by Irish cattle breeders to combat BSE, and that Egyptian veterinary officials were welcome to undertake their own inspection in Ireland. He will be discussing the ban with Egyptian veterinary officials again today.
It was unclear in Cairo whether any cattle shipments were currently en route to Egypt and if so, whether they would be included in the ban. A similar summary ban on all European Union cattle imports was imposed in 1996, leaving some 5,200 live head of Irish cattle stranded off Egypt's Mediterranean coast.
They were eventually allowed in but the ban on Irish beef was not lifted until several months later, despite visits by Irish agriculture officials and the personal intervention of the then Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton.
The ban comes at a time of peak demand for meat in Egypt.