The French food safety agency told the EC it would not lift the beef ban after reading a European Union report.

The report concluded there would be "no absolute certainty" that British beef would be free from BSE until August 2001, Junior French Trade Minister Marylise Lebranchu told EU Food Safety Commissioner David Byrne.

August 2001 is when the five-year incubation period for the disease runs out.

But a spokeswoman for Mr Byrne said the report was talking about cattle aged over 30 months. The Commission has only approved the export of British beef from animals aged 30 months or less.

"This is a sentence that was taken out of the context of a Scientific Steering Committee report from May, which was asked to address a different issue," the spokeswoman said.

"In any event, no animal over 30 months, whether for export or domestic consumption, is entering the food chain."

'British beef safe'

She added that there were other tough conditions in Britain's Date Based Export Scheme, which took effect on 1 August.

"The scientists said the risk of BSE from animals meeting those conditions is remote and British beef is as safe as beef from other countries," the spokeswoman said.

The Commission has still not formally rejected France's submission - which has 300 pages of evidence - that British beef still poses a health risk.

If it finds no new evidence, it could do so by Friday.

Commissioner Byrne has already threatened legal action against France to force it to lift its ban.