Sep 22, 2007, 11:00 GMT
Richard E. Grant says eating meat again after ten years living on a vegetarian diet was "like sex".
official at the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service shows a vertebra found in US beef shipments to South Korea on 02 August 2007. South Korea last year lifted more than two years of a ban on American beef imports, citing health concerns after the discovery of mad cow disease at a U.S. cattle farm. But it later agreed to resume only 'boneless' beef imports. EPA/YNA
The British actor stopped eating meat in the 90s after the UK was gripped by an outbreak of 'mad cow disease' - which can be caught by humans who eat infected beef.
Grant admits his first taste of cooked animal flesh after a decade of fruit and vegetables was as good as making love.
He said: "I've just started eating meat again after 10 years as a vegetarian. I gave it up during the 'mad cow disease' scare. It's been absolutely fantastic. It's like sex!"
'Mad cow disease' - scientifically known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) - is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease which affects cattle.
Humans can catch the disease by eating meat from infected cows. In humans it is known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) and is an aggressive degenerative illness which affects the brain resulting in almost inevitable death.
A major outbreak in the UK in the 90s claimed the lives of more than 100 people.
Grant, 50, is currently filming a non-balletic version of world famous ballet 'The Nutcracker', and is also set to play an ageing army colonel in a film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's 'The Garden of Eden'.
(C) BANG Media International
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