(ANSA) - Rome, July 6 - The famed Tuscan T-bone steak called Fiorentina could soon be thumping back onto Italian tables after a five-year ban.
After a recent thumbs-up from the European Commission, the much-missed meat treat should be on its way back after the summer, Health Undersecretary Cesare Cursi said on Wednesday.
"We're working to get the Fiorentina back in September," Cursi told a press conference here.
With Italy's mad cow emergency officially over, little stands in the way of the Fiorentina's return, Cursi said.
The thick and juicy cut, the most famous victim of the European Union's mad cow ban, just needs the go-ahead from the new Parma-based European Food Security Agency (EFSA). The huge steak was taken off the menu - except in a few maverick restaurants - because of a 2001 EU ban on beef which included any part of the spinal cord. The ban was imposed in the wake of the mad cow scare.
A whopping cut off the bone, the Fiorentina is typically flash-grilled to leave a blood-dripping, succulent and almost raw centre - although the squeamish can always ask for it to be left a bit longer on the grill.
