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Japan decision on U.S. beef imports may be near

Posted on: Monday, 12 September 2005, 02:54 CDT

By Aya Takada

TOKYO (Reuters) - The head of a panel considering whether to reopen the Japanese market to U.S. beef said on Monday he would prepare a draft report on U.S. beef safety by the panel's next meeting, a comment that suggests a decision is near.

The date of the next meeting has not been set, but the panel usually meets once or twice in a month.

The panel, a subcommittee of Japan's Food Safety Commission, met on Monday for the sixth time since May when the Japanese government asked it to rule on the safety of U.S. beef and beef offal, which have been banned in Japan since December 2003 when a case of mad cow disease was discovered in the United States.

"I hope we can have a discussion based on a draft report at the next meeting," Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, the chairman of the 12-member subcommittee, said at the end of the meeting.

Without approval from the commission, an independent group of experts who assess food safety, the government cannot implement an agreement made last October with the United States to resume imports of U.S. beef and beef products.

Before the ban, Japan was the top importer of American beef, with imports valued at $1.4 billion in 2003.

Almost a year ago, Japan agreed with the United States to resume imports of beef from cattle aged 20 months or younger, which are considered to be at low risk from mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

The countries also agreed that specified risk materials (SRM), such as bovine heads and spinal cords, must be removed from animals of all ages.

But Tokyo has insisted that shipments cannot resume until the commission declares that U.S. beef to be exported to Japan under the agreed conditions is as safe as domestic meat.

GROWING FRUSTRATION

U.S. lawmakers have expressed growing frustration with Japan's slowness in reopening its market, and some have proposed that Washington consider trade sanctions.

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human version of BSE, is thought to be spread by eating contaminated meat. It has caused more than 140 deaths worldwide, including one in Japan.

Yoshikawa also said the subcommittee could speed up discussions if the number of U.S. meat packers who can meet the export conditions set by the October agreement is limited.

In the United States, cattle slaughtered at 25 facilities of four major meat-packers represent more than 80 percent of all the slaughtered animals. But these plants account for only 3.5 percent of all the U.S. meat-packing facilities.

"If U.S. beef shipments to Japan will come from a limited number of facilities, we can easily check their safety. But if not, it would be very difficult to do so," Yoshikawa said.

An official of Japan's Health Ministry said the October agreement did not exclude small U.S. packers as possible beef exporters to Japan. However, he added, Japan imported U.S. beef shipped from about 100 facilities before the trade ban.

To accelerate discussion over U.S. beef, the subcommittee may also have to make risk assessment on U.S. beef offal separately, as these parts may be at higher BSE risk, Yoshikawa said.

In the fiscal year to March 31, 2003 Japan imported from the United States 240,144 tonnes of beef and 80,301 tonnes of beef offal which include tongue, liver, stomach and intestines.

It is also impossible to determine if beef offal is taken from cattle aged 20 months or younger unless it is from animals with production records, Satoshi Kai, another subcommittee member, said at Monday's meeting.

Under the October agreement, the United States can verify the age of cattle based on production records or the meat grading system, as about only 10 percent of U.S. cattle carry documents on their age.

As for animals without documents, the United States can export their meat to Japan if they are graded "A40," which refers mainly to cattle aged 12-17 months.

Source: REUTERS

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