Opposition parties have demanded that the Welsh agriculture secretary set the record straight after a leaked e-mail led to fears that the beef-on-the-bone ban is to be brought back.

Christine Gwyther issued a "full apology" to the farming industry after the accidental leak of an internal Assembly document warning of a new European ban on beef-on-the-bone.

But the Conservatives have tabled an emergency motion demanding clarification.

"We need to know whether it's true there's the likelihood of another ban on beef-on-the-bone and, indeed, a ban on sheep over 12 months old," said Leader Nick Bourne.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Mike German said the leak had destabilised the whole of the agriculture industry in Wales.

"We need to put it back on track. I think we need an immediate answer from the first secretary," he said.

Plaid Cymru's Acting Leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said Ms Gwyther should look at the procedures within her department.

"And how this information came into the public domain without really knowing its status," he said.

The agriculture secretary said she was happy to apologise to the industry.

"There is always the spectre of further regulations and it is as well that my officials look at every scenario - even the worst, worst case - and that's what happened in this instance," she said.

Ms Gwyther added that the Ministry of Agriculture did not expect such an outcome.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture in London said: "This document is incorrect in both tone and content. It should not have been circulated within the civil service mich less the media."

The document suggested that the EU could order the removal of spinal and intestinal tissue from cattle and sheep carcasses.

Huw Richards of the National Farmers' Unionsaid the blunder called into question the whole concept of the Assembly.

"How many gaffs have they done in the course of the first six or seven months of their lives," he said.

"Who is having to pick up the bill all the time? We who are operating in the industry in Wales."

EU considering a ban

A European Commission spokesman said on Friday morning that the Standing Veterinary Committee was considering a ban on beef-on-the-bone in so-called Category Four countries (the UK and Portugal) for cattle over 30 months.

The spokesman added that the proposals were at an early stage and the accepted document could be completely different.

Under the "Over Thirty Month Rule" introduced by the UK Government in May 1996, no beef from cattle over 30-months is allowed into the human food chain.

It is not clear how the proposals could affect the slaughter of sheep.

Meanwhile, a National Assembly official said that an internal review would be held to determine how the e-mail was mistakenly sent to the media.

'Caught out'

The spokesman added that lessons had been learnt from the incident, which resulted from a press officer being "caught out by new technology."

The e-mail, from an official in the Assembly's agriculture division, said: "Unless it is stopped, new EU regulations will come into force on 1 July requiring the removal of additional material from cattle and sheep carcasses as Specified Risk Material in the worst category of BSE states, which includes the UK.

"This would have two very serious effects for us: the re-introduction of the beef-on-the-bone ban and the removal of vertebrae and intestines from the carcasses of sheep over 12 months old.

"The latter outcome in particular would have a potentially very damaging impact of the industry in Wales."

The beef-on-the-bone ban was imposed on the industry in 1997 after fears over new variant CJD, suspected of being the human form of mad cow disease.

The rules made sales of certain cuts of beef illegal and had a devastating effect on the UK's agricultural industry.