The National Farmer's Union (NFU) has criticised UK regulations for stalling recovery of British beef exports.

"We still haven't the quantity of beef to export because we are destroying almost 200,000 tonnes of beef per year following the mad cow disease crisis," said Ben Gill, president of the NFU farmers' group, at an agricultural forum on Saturday.

With exports continually limited, the union accused too much red tape and the destruction of older meat under BSE regulations to be the reason for market constraint.

"We hope that within the next year we will be able to start removing these impediments. Cattle born since 1996 but older than 30 months have a totally different BSE risk potential and should be allowed to go back into the food chain subject to individual testing," said Gill.

With France and Germany showing the most promising signs for UK beef exports, the NFU are calling for legislation to be reviewed.