Food inspectors have found banned material in two more consignments of beef just days after a similar scare in Sussex.

The Food Standards Agency said inspectors had found spinal cord in another consignment of German beef delivered to a cutting plant in Eastbourne.

Inspectors reported banned material had been found in one of the 216 German beef carcasses at AngloDutch Meats Buss Ltd in Arkwright Drive.

The news comes only days after two inches of spinal cord were discovered in a hindquarter at the same plant.

All the meat had arrived from Oldenburg via Dover and accompanying documentation said the beef complied with regulations stating it came from animals under 30 months old.

Under European and British regulations, all remnants of spinal cord are classified as specified risk material and should be removed before export to ensure no BSE-infected meat gets into the food chain.

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said: "Every German carcass is being inspected. The fact that we have picked this up shows that the controls are working."

The beef, which was in breach of strict BSE controls, had been marked up as fit for human consumption, said the agency.

The agency said the Eastbourne case was discovered after one of 216 beef hindquarters was found to contain spinal material.

Last month, inspectors found banned spinal material in 41,000 kilos of German beef in Northern Ireland.

The FSA said it was now checking all imports of beef from Germany.