BEEF is to go back on the menu at York schools.

Councillors decided to lift the ban after a survey of parents showed a majority were in favour of a change.

The ban on beef and beef products has been in force since 1996 when the BSE scare was at its height.

Since then, several surveys have been carried out and the latest indicated a shift in public opinion. Of 204 parents questioned, 71 per cent backed the reintroduction of British steak or minced beef, compared with 57 per cent in February 1997.

Coun Gerald Dean said: "It seems persuasive evidence to approve the availability of beef in schools while parents and children have a choice."

Coun Charles Hall said: "If we do introduce beef, it is important that they can have a beef alternative."

Chairwoman, Coun Janet Looker, agreed it was important that a choice was offered for parents who still had concerns.

Councillors were told that alternatives would be provided and parents would still be able to indicate that they would prefer their children not to eat beef.

Rob Simpson of the National Farmers' Union North-East office, in York, said the decision was excellent news for beef farmers in the area.

He said: "It gives them a welcome boost and gives them extra confidence. Consumers are happy with British beef and if beef is on school menus then it should be British."

Robert Goodwill, the Euro-MP, who lives at Terrington, near Malton, has written to all schools in York to ask to them to press the council for beef to be put back on the menu.

He said: "I think that one of the factors that affected the decision was that parents, teachers and governors contacted the council and made it clear to them that they wanted beef put back on the menu."

Mr Goodwill added that the council's policy on beef had until now been "anti-British" and said he was glad councillors had finally listened to public opinion.