As part of his three day visit to Ireland, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he expects Irish beef to be on sale in America before the end of the year.

“That’s not a possibility, that’s a reality,” Vilsack said. “I fully anticipate and expect that trade will resume shorty,” he added.

Last November, America lifted the ban on Irish beef following a 16-year long hiatus as a result of the BSE crisis in the mid-1990s.

Speaking alongside Vilsack, Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said he expects Irish beef to be marketed and sold on the east coast of America, primarily in the restaurant trade.

The Irish Farmers Journal exclusively reported in May that secretary Vilsack was coming to Ireland and after that he would send a team of veterinary inspectors to Ireland to conduct tests of Irish beef processing plants. These tests are the last hurdle require to jump in order to get access to the lucrative US market.

Vilsack confirmed that these tests will commence next week and he expects there to be no issues coming from them. The US veterinary inspectors are due to land in Ireland on June 30 and the tests of the beef plants are expected to take no longer than a week.

Vilsack, who visited a beef and a dairy farm in Kildare on today (Thursday 19 June), also tried to allay fears regarding the Irish beef industry as part of the trade talks between the EU and America. He said that the potential trade deal would work in favour of both sides. He also confirmed that America is committed to producing agriculture products that are of an “equivalent standard” to European standards.