China has allowed beef imports from Brazil and the UK to resume.
After an atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was discovered in Brazil late May, China immediately shut down Brazil beef imports.
Although the cow was disposed of and the BSE case was not linked to any other animals, China has one of the strictest policies towards BSE.
It is one of the only importing countries that enforces a health protocol suspending beef imports when an atypical case is reported.
The ban lasted for 10 days. China also lifted the ban over British beef imports, but this ban spanned over a period of 23 years as opposed to the week-and-a-half Brazilian ban. China implemented the UK beef ban after a case of BSE broke out in 1996.
The outbreak killed more than 180,000 cattle and more than 150 Britain residents. The European Union lifted its ban on British beef in 2006 and the U.S. in 2016, but China has maintained a strict protocol.
China and the UK signed the UK-China Beef Protocol on June 17 and market access will be granted by the end of 2019. The UK estimates this deal will be worth an estimated $290 million in the first five years.
