51.   Japan on Wednesday banned imports of beef products from Britain and Northern Ireland to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, Agriculture Ministry officials said.

52.   Japan has reported three cases of mad cow disease since September, spurring many consumers to shun beef products.

53.   McMillin said consumers can look for more pre-packaged beef products in stores.

54.   Omaha Steaks announced in November it would irradiate its ground beef products and information is available on its Web site, Simon said.

55.   Omaha Steaks will use irradiation on its ground beef products to guard against harmful bacteria such as E. coli, the company said Friday.

56.   Separately, the Agriculture Ministry credited countrywide examinations for keeping Japanese beef products free of mad cow disease for the past five months.

57.   Schools have been told to ban beef products and many people are concerned as evidence mounts that the disease can spread to humans.

58.   Storck recalled the candy in Poland last week after health officials there banned beef products from countries with confirmed cases of mad cow disease.

59.   Tainted beef products are suspected of causing about two dozen reported cases, almost all in Britain, of the variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

60.   Tests of items from the restaurant found a raw beef product that tested positive for E. coli.