Japan Halts Import From Kan. Meat Plant

TOKYO – Japan ordered imports halted from a major meat plant in Kansas Friday after a beef shipment arrived without proper papers, the third American meatpacker that’s had some exports to Japan stopped for technical violations.

Four boxes of frozen beef tongue in a shipment of 250 boxes, totaling about 2 tons, which arrived in Kobe, central Japan, from Cargill Meat Solutions in Dodge City, Kansas, didn’t have the required papers from the U.S. government, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture told the ministry the shipment was destined for somewhere other than Japan, the statement said.

U.S. authorities were investigating why it ended up in Japan. No material that violated Japan’s safety standards for meat imports were found in the shipment, it said.

Japan, a nation that is extremely nervous about food safety, especially imported meat, banned American beef imports in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S.

The ban was eased once in December 2005, but tightened again the following month after prohibited spinal bones were found in a veal shipment. Tokyo eased the restrictions again in last July year, but allows only meat from cows aged 20 months or younger.

Beef is growing into a bilateral trade issue. President Bush recently urged Japan to reopen its markets fully to U.S. beef, removing the 20-month-old or younger requirement.

Before the ban on American beef three years ago, Japan had been the top destination for U.S. beef, importing US$1.4 billion worth a year.

Last month, Japan suspended beef imports from California meatpacker Jobbers Meat Packing Co. after finding packages of beef sausage in a shipment in violation of a regulation imposed over mad cow concerns, the government said Friday.

Japan bans the import of U.S. products such as sausage that contain processed beef under restrictions because of what Japan says are risks of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Eating meat contaminated with mad cow disease is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare but deadly nerve disorder.

In February, Japan stopped beef imports from a Nebraska processing plant operated by Tyson Foods Inc. after finding boxes of beef, which had not been verified as from cattle 20 months old or younger, as required by Japan.

Japan limits imports of beef that has been through stringent checks at selected U.S. meat processing plants, but still imports American beef from about 30 processing plants that haven’t had any problems.

Last week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Japan unit, the Seiyu supermarket chain, became the first major Japanese retailer to start selling American beef, although even Seiyu has begun a cautious rollout, selling U.S. beef at 20 of its 400 nationwide stores.

Other major retail chains are staying away from U.S. beef because Japanese consumers are worried about the risks of eating American beef.

Less finicky Japanese have welcomed the return of American beef, and the beef bowl at a Japanese fast-food chain- slivers of grilled U.S. beef served over hot rice – is a big hit.