FIGURES to be released later this week will show that Irish consumers are eating almost as much beef as they did before the BSE crisis.
The figures, complied by An Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, is welcome news for the board, which has been at the cutting edge of the BSE crisis.
In the immediate aftermath of the scare, beef consumption over Europe fell by 40 per cent but it has gradually recovered to a point where it is about 10 per cent below this time last year, the board's chief executive, Mr Michael Duffy, says.
Bord Bia research has shown that consumers all over Europe are looking to the retailer to give them the necessary guarantees that the meat they are selling them is safe.
"We are therefore concentrating our efforts on the retail area, especially in Britain and France, which have been very important markets for us. This means getting factual information on the problems to them," Mr Duffy said.
He says the real success story for Irish beef has been in Sweden, Holland, Denmark and northern Italy, which have been buying increasing quantities of Irish beef.
Overall, 90 per cent of the volume of beef the board had expected to sell was moved last year, even though it was valued at 15 per cent less than in 1995.