If Ireland starts exporting beef to the US again, it will mean the business has gone full circle. America is where it all started for Irish beef factories almost 70 years ago. Before then, old cows mostly died on the farm.

The Crowley family in Roscrea, along with German George Fasenfeld, began exporting boxed boneless cow beef from Ireland to the US. They were later joined by the co-op-owned Clover Meats in Waterford and Clonmel, and by Frank Quinn, operating from Grand Canal St in Dublin and Irish Meat Packers in Leixlip, Co Kildare. Both of these Quinn factories were capable of killing a couple of thousand cattle per week.

Then as now, freedom from disease was an issue. The US especially feared introducing foot-and-mouth disease – an issue in mainland Europe.

The Irish Government valued and nursed the US beef business. So much so that the importation of the first Charolais cattle from France was probably delayed because of the the risk of importing disease.

Irish meat factories and Ireland got a further US boost when they secured the contract to supply beef to the American forces stationed in Europe – a business that continued right through to the 1970s.

The US palate always favoured lots of marbling in beef. For the American forces, Irish meat plants selected prime, heavy Herefords and Angus steers, of which there was a steady supply in those times. Even if today’s beef is 100% grass-fed, marbling will be a huge issue.