Japan finds BSE risk parts in US beef imports
Posted on: Friday, 20 January 2006, 06:15 CST
TOKYO - Japan has found risk material that could cause mad cow disease in beef imported from the United States, just a month after a ban on imports of the meat was lifted, a farm ministry official said on Friday.
A total of 390 kg (859.8 lb) of beef imported from a meat packer in New York, which was inspected when it arrived at Narita International Airport on Friday, contained risk materials, he said.
"Under the agreement between the United States and Japan, we decided to stop imports from the facility," the official said. Japan officially resumed some imports of beef from the United States and Canada last month, after a two-year ban.
The incident comes as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick is due to visit Japan on Sunday and Monday.
The farm ministry official said it could not comment on whether Japan would re-impose a ban on all imports of U.S. beef, as further studies had to be made.
Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said a thorough investigation into the incident was needed.
"If this is true, it is extremely regrettable ... That is to say, we consider that it would be a serious violation of the import process," Nakagawa told a news conference carried on NHK television.
Japan halted imports of beef from the United States in December 2003 after the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in Washington state.
Before the ban, Japan was the top importer of U.S. beef, with imports valued at $1.4 billion in 2003.
After months of negotiations, Tokyo agreed in December 2005 to resume imports of American beef, but only from cattle aged 20 months or younger.
It also said that all risk material that could cause the brain-wasting disease had to be totally removed.
These materials include the spinal cord, which was found in the cargo of U.S. meat from New York.
Small quantities of beef from the United States have started to enter Japan, but consumers remain worried that food safeguards in the United States are not up to Japanese standards.
Experts believe humans can catch a variant version of mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), by eating contaminated meat.
Source: REUTERS
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