The meal at the Hotel Metropole marked a symbolic end to the European Union's beef ban.

Those invited to eat the 45kg of fillet steak included European meat importers and EU Commission representatives, who are crucial to the marketing process.

Consumer choice

The BBC's Richard Wilson reports: "This is the moment British farmers have been waiting for"

A favourable reaction from the 60 guests and the first actual orders could help restore consumer confidence. But Europeans will still need much persuasion before buying British beef.

Speaking at the lunch, British agriculture minister Joyce Quin said: "What we want to do now is ensure the European consumer has a choice of buying British beef or not.

"A large number of countries have agreed they can import British beef from now on.

"We have spent a lot of public money and put a lot of effort into achieving the end of the beef ban. We need to regain lost markets and win new markets in the future," she added.

The ban was imposed just over three years ago after scientists first discovered a link between BSE in cattle and the human brain disease CJD.

But MPs in Germany and France still have a final say before Scotch and Welsh beef appears on their tables.

And the regulations governing the export of British beef add enormously to the cost to the consumer.

'Reduced beef exports'

The ban on British beef was lifted on 1 August

The beef eaten at the lunch came from St Merryn Meat, an abattoir in Cornwall. It is the only one so far deemed to meet the safety requirements needed for an export licence.

The managing director of St Merryn Meat, Bart Stacey, said Italian, Greek and French companies had shown a positive interest in his beef.

Don Curry, chairman of the Meat and Livestock Commission, said that it was a "courageous step" for the abattoir to start exporting again, but admitted it would take time for others to get an export licence.

Britain was exporting about £550m worth of beef annually when the ban was introduced, but this year it will be a tiny fraction of that.