The British Food Standards Agency is examining a consignment of beef delivered to a Northern Irish plant from the Republic thought to contain spinal cord or residual spinal cord.
The beef, which was in breach of strict BSE controls, had been marked up as fit for human consumption, the Agency said.
A spokesman for the FSA said: "The fact that we have picked this up shows that the controls are working."
Under European regulations, all remnants of spinal cord are classified as specified risk material (SRM) and should be removed before export in new measures designed to ensure that no BSE-infected meat gets into the food chain.
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