The United States has lifted a ban on importing foie gras and cooked meat products from France, the French Agricultural Minister Herve Gaymard said Sunday. Speaking at the opening of a food fair in Paris, Gaymard said the ban had been lifted after further checks by U.S. inspectors on French slaughterhouses. The U.S. introduced the ban in February, claiming that conditions in French slaughterhouses did not meet U.S. sanitary standards. However in France the move was seen as politically motivated by France's opposition to the Iraqi war. --SP 2258 Local Time 1958 GMT
