29/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - United States reopens market to Dutch beef. On Monday 29 February, the European Commission welcomed the US decision to lift its embargo on the import of beef from the Netherlands. The Americans closed their market to beef from the EU following the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, outbreak in the 1990s. The United States had previously lifted its ban on Irish and Lithuanian beef. (LC)