An Italian farm union member holds an Italian steak at the Franco-Italian boarder near a banner that reads "Italian meat " during a demonstration in Vintimiglia November 20, 2000. Italian police inspect lorries from France entering the country following a recent ban on the import of adult cattle and beef-on-the-bone from France due to consumer panic over mad cow disease and its link to a fatal, brain-wasting disease in humans. According to the Rome-based farm research institute ISMEA, Italy imports about 1.5 million head of cattle a year, of which two-thirds come from France.