Brussels, 06/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - On the basis of a scientific opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Commission has suggested raising from twelve to twenty-four months the age limit beyond which the spinal cord must be removed from beef meat, a proposal that was endorsed by Member States' experts on the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal health on 5 October. The spinal cord had been identified as a Specified Risk Material (SRM), on the Community list of 2000, but, due to the decline in the number of cases of BSE within the EU, combined with a rise in the age of animals affected, the EFSA felt, in its opinion of April 2005, that this limit should be increased to thirty months. The increase to twenty-four months proposed by the Commission guarantees a more reasonable safety margin and, after examination by the European Parliament, will allow resumption of beef on the bone production, such as “bistecca alla fiorentina” or the “T-bone steak”, generally produced from animals aged from twenty-two to thirty months.