The lifting of the ban, scheduled for November 10, had widely been expected, as President Ma Ying-jeou and the U.S. representative in Taiwan, William Stanton, had both recently mentioned a deal was near.

The agreement allowed the import of bone-in beef from cattle younger than 30 months, including T-bone and rib steaks. Beef offal will remain banned, but talks will continue about imports of ground beef.

However, ground beef, intestines and processed beef not contaminated with "specified risk materials" will be allowed, reports said.

The DOH announcement provoked sharp criticism from consumer advocates and politicians.

The Consumers' Foundation said the decision was the first step in the direction of letting even more harmful products enter Taiwan. The foundation also questioned what it said were the lack of credible inspections of the meat products.

Ruling Kuomintang lawmakers said the inclusion of intestines in the list of beef products allowed to be imported was unacceptable. The KMT could grudgingly accept the import of bone-in beef, lawmaker Lu Hsueh-chang said, but intestines could not win approval.

During a meeting with KMT legislators yesterday afternoon, DOH Vice Minister Hsiao Mei-ling said the World Organization for Animal Health had declared the U.S. as an area in control of mad cow disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). The DOH had sent its own specialists to the U.S. twice while also calling in independent outside consultants to evaluate the risks, Hsiao said.

Lu and other lawmakers said they could not accept her explanation, and threatened to freeze the DOH budget if it failed to go back on its decision to allow intestines in.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party accused the government of liberalizing the beef import ban in return for a U.S. concession on allowing Taiwanese travelers visa-free access. If the choice was between convenience and health, people would choose health, said DPP lawmaker Huang Sue-ying. Legislators from both parties said the DOH announcement went against a resolution requiring the government to report to the Legislative Yuan and win its support before opening up the import of U.S. beef.

The U.S. representative office in the country, the American Institute in Taiwan, emphasized the scientific reasoning behind the opening.

"We welcome the announcement of the new bilateral protocol on U.S. beef imports into Taiwan and Taiwan's publication of its amended import requirements for U.S. beef and products, which are science based and consistent with World Organization for Animal Health guidelines," local media quoted AIT spokesman Thomas Hodges as saying.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan also welcomed the Taiwanese government decision, adding a call for renewed talks about a trade and investment framework agreement between both countries. Friday's Amcham statement said millions of Americans ate U.S. beef on a daily basis while scientific research had shown there was no risk attached.

DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang said Thursday that importers would have to provide a health guarantee plan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Taiwan banned the import of all U.S. beef products in 2003 after the country reported its first case of BSE.

In April 2005, Taiwan partially lifted the ban to allow imports of boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old, but reimposed it only two months later after the U.S. found a new BSE case.

The following year, Taiwan relaxed the ban again, giving a green light to boneless beef from cattle under 30 months old, but produced by certified slaughterhouses and without high-risk parts including brains, eyes, small intestines, skulls and spinal nerve roots.

Canadian beef is still banned from Taiwan, but Canada's top representative in the country, Scott Fraser, visited the DOH yesterday.

The visit had reportedly been scheduled some time before, and its timing on the same day as the announcement about U.S. beef was a complete coincidence, the Canadian trade office said.

Canada took a South Korean ban on its beef to the World Trade Organization last April. The Asian country lifted a ban on U.S. beef in June 2008 but not on Canadian beef, even though both were listed as "controlled BSE risks."