The regulations were among 60 issued by the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food before the end of 1997 to combat the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle.

[3] They were a statutory instrument (SI) made under the powers granted by the Food Safety Act 1990, applied across Great Britain and came into force on 16 December 1997.

[5] The regulations were imposed because of fears that previous practices risked contamination of foodstuffs by dorsal root ganglia, nerve tissue found close to the bone, and mechanically recovered meat.

[3] There were protests against the ban, which some consumers saw as an over-reaction to the risk of vCJD infection by a paternalistic government, and the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales criticised the measures.

[9][3] A march on Downing Street was held by butchers, consumers and meat industry personnel after which the prime minister Tony Blair was presented with a rib of beef.

[3] The regulations were criticised in the tabloid press and the Worshipful Company of Butchers held a six-course dinner to "say goodbye to the roast beef of Olde England" at which diners wore black armbands.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown hinted strongly that there would be no prosecutions for sales made between that date and the formal issuing of the amendment to the regulations (which came on 17 December 1999).

There was some discussion over whether separate policies should be maintained in the home nations of Great Britain, as the Chief Medical Officers for Scotland and for Wales wanted to retain the restrictions for longer than did their counterpart the CMO for England.