In a late night Senate Estimates hearing in Canberra on Tuesday, officials from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry confirmed that since the decision there had been renewed interest in applying to export beef to Australia.

When asked whether Australia had received any requests from companies or countries which have had BSE seeking to import beef, Paul Morris, from DAFF's trade and market access division, confirmed the question with a resounding "yes".

"Japan has already indicated that they will putting in an application," Mr Morris said.

"We understand Canada has also indicated an interest.

"Previous to the decision being made the US and the European Union were also interested in a change in the policy, so we can assume that they would also be interested."

During the hearing it was also confirmed that the office of Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, was the lead office in the decision, despite a joint release sent to media last week with the Ministers for Health and Agriculture, and it was suggested, though not confirmed, the US Ambassador to Australia may have been involved in some of the negotiations.

WA Liberal Senator, Chris Back, asked whether representatives from the Australian meat industry were also asked to sign confidentiality agreements with regard to the negotiations and the Government decision, but this was denied by the department officials.

Secretary of the Department, Dr Conall O'Connell, made it clear during the hearing that "much of the impetus for this examination of the policy did stem from our meat export industry".

"It was concerned about the state of the policy as it was and the potential for it to be damaging to the trade," Dr O'Connell said.

"Industry has been quite clear in its interests in this issue, and its interest that our approach is properly science based."

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan said his was not an argument about health risks but market access and the lowering of Australian standards which would favour Canada and the United States.