US Firm Regretful After Risky Cow Part Found in Japan

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

New York, 20 January: The president of Atlantic Veal & Lamb Inc., which shipped beef to Japan where a bovine body part considered a mad cow disease risk was found in the beef shipment, expressed a “sincere regret” Friday [10 January] while saying the product is safe.

President Philip Peerless said in a statement, “We sincerely regret that we shipped product not approved for export to Japan. Our company shipped this product in response to an order by a Japanese customer.”

The meat processor Atlantic Veal & Lamb is based in Brooklyn, New York.

“The product we shipped is safe and is widely consumed in the US marketplace. Were this product shipped to San Francisco, there would be no question about its safety,” Peerless said.

“But because we shipped it to Japan, and because it contained bones that are not accepted by the Japanese, we have now been prohibited from exporting to Japan,” the president said.

According to the Japanese government, a cow backbone, which is among the parts designated as BSE, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, risk material, was found at Narita airport near Tokyo in a beef shipment a Japanese trading company imported as a sample product.

The discovery prompted Japan to halt all US beef imports Friday, only a month after resuming them.

“We are absolutely confident that the product is safe. However, we regret that there was a misinterpretation of the export requirements and an honest mistake involving a very small amount of product that has led to this degree of concern,” Peerless said.

“It is important to note that Atlantic Veal produces veal derived from very young animals – animals that have never tested positive for BSE. We estimate that the veal we shipped came from animals that were less than 4 1/2 months of age,” he said.

Japan lifted the ban last month on condition that the meat comes from cows aged 20 months or younger and brains, spinal cords and other specified risk material that could transmit BSE are removed.