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Japan, Korea to Halt U.S. Beef Imports

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 06:00 CST

Japan and South Korea took action to halt imports of U.S. beef on Wednesday after a cow in Washington state tested positive for mad cow disease.

Japan's Agriculture Ministry said the country was indefinitely banning beef imports, depriving American exporters of their largest overseas market. Exports totaled $842 million in 2002, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

"Until its safety can be confirmed, we decided to ban U.S. beef imports for the time being starting today," said Yasuo Fukuda, the Japanese government's top spokesman. "We plan to recall meat products that might contain bits from cattle brains and spinal cords."

In Seoul, South Korea, the government halted customs inspection of U.S. beef, effectively preventing the meat from reaching the domestic market.

South Korea's Agriculture and Forestry Ministry said it also suspended sales of all U.S. beef already on the market as a precaution.

The country imported 187,000 tons of U.S. beef this year, more than half its total imports. It also buys beef from Australia and New Zealand.

The actions by the two Asian nations came less than four hours after the U.S. government announced that a Holstein cow on a Washington state farm tested positive for mad cow disease, marking the disease's first suspected appearance in the United States.

Japanese authorities have been especially leery about mad cow disease since the nation's herds suffered the first recorded outbreak of the disease in Asia in September 2001, causing meat consumption to plunge. Consumption, however, has since rebounded.

The country quarantined 604 cows in October to prevent the spread of the disease after authorities confirmed that a 23-month-old bull had a new strain of the bovine illness - the nation's eighth case.

Tokyo moved ahead with the ban despite assurances from U.S. officials that the American beef supply was safe. Japan banned the import of Canadian beef after a single case of the disease was confirmed in Ottawa on May 20, and Tokyo had expressed concern that some Canadian beef could slip into Japan via the United States.

While fresh imports have been banned, there was no widespread rush to pull American beef from supermarket shelves. A spokesman for Ito-Yokado, Japan's largest supermarket chain, said the retailer had faith in the safety of the beef already on its shelves and would sell its stocks.

Ito-Yokado imports its U.S. beef from herds in the midwest, far from where the infected Holstein was discovered in Washington state, the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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