A CONSIGNMENT of spare ribs from the Malton Bacon Factory, held up because of fears over the swine fever outbreak, is believed to have reached America.

The 120,000lb of meat was held up while the US authorities sought assurances the meat was safe. The spare ribs are now thought to be in the care of US Customs officials and it is expected the ribs will be allowed into the country once all the relevant paperwork has been completed.

A spokesman for the Bacon Factory, said: "Now the European ban on exporting live pigs has been lifted, we hope this clears the way for any other obstacles still in place elsewhere.

"We are very relieved the EU authorities have taken on board all the hard work that has been done to deal with this problem and reached this decision."

Despite the lifting of the EU ban, pig meat from the Bacon Factory destined for Japan is still having difficulty entering the country. This is because of public health measures which are automatically put in place whenever a scare such as the swine fever outbreak occurs.

Meanwhile, Anne McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York, has welcomed the lifting of the live export ban.

Miss McIntosh said: "I welcome this action from the European Commission and I was pleased to see the swift response from agriculture minister Nick Brown to the swine fever outbreak. While I warmly welcome the news of the lifting of the ban, I accept the position must be kept under close and constant monitoring. This is nevertheless a very positive vote of confidence in the British pig industry.

"I would like to congratulate my Vale of York constituent Stewart Houston and the members of organisations such as the National Pig Association and the British Pig Industry Support Group for all their efforts to put pressure on the Government to act to support the UK pig industry."