Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia had reversed the ban, imposed in December 2003 over fears of mad cow disease, after meat was approved for import from two American abbatoirs.

"We will be cautious with the beef imports. We insisted that the meat must come from cattle less than 30 months old," Muhyiddin was quoted as saying in the Star daily.

Malaysia and other countries such as Taiwan and Japan imposed bans on US beef in 2003 after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was discovered in a herd in Washington state.

A number of Asian nations, including Singapore, have lifted the bans in recent months.

Muhyiddin said that veterinary and Islamic religious department officials had inspected meat from the two US abbatoirs. They deemed it free of disease and pronounced it halal, or prepared according to Islamic requirements.