Euro-MP James Elles has pledged to step in over French threats to halt the importation of British lamb.
He promised local members of the National Farmers' Union meeting in Thame that he would write to the European Union demanding action over a new proposal from the French Food Standards Agency to extend its current list of 'specified risk material' to include spinal cord in sheep aged six months and over.
The ruling, due to be imposed by France from July 1, could mean a virtual ban on UK farmers exporting lamb into France.
Mr Elles said: "Farmers across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and elsewhere in Britain are continuing to suffer grievously from the illegal French ban on our beef.
"In the year 2000, sheep meat exports from Britain to France were valued at £140m, and live sheep exports to France account for an additional £16m of revenue. "The resultant over-supply on the domestic market would inevitably depress producer prices at home.
"We have a single market in the European Union and the French Minister must accept EU laws which allow the freedom of goods to pass from one member state to another. It is as simple as that."
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