Japan reimposes ban on US beef: report

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has decided to reimpose a ban on
U.S. beef imports after finding risk materials that could cause
mad cow disease in a shipment from New York, Kyodo news agency
said on Friday.

The decision comes just one month after Japan lifted a
two-year ban on imports of U.S. beef that was put in place
after the United States found a case of mad cow disease in
Washington state in December 2003.

Japanese health and farm ministry officials could not
immediately confirm the report.

A total of 390 kg (860 lb) of beef imported from a
meatpacker in New York was found to contain the risk materials
when it was inspected upon arrival at Narita International
Airport near Tokyo, a Farm Ministry official said earlier.

“Under the agreement between the United States and Japan,
we decided to stop imports from the facility,” the official
said.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the
country’s agriculture minister had recommended reimposing the
ban on all U.S. beef imports.

“He also recommended, because preserving the food safety
and security of the people is extremely important, calling on
the United States to make a strong response,” Koizumi told
reporters.

Koizumi said he directed Agriculture Minister Shoichi
Nakagawa to consult with the health minister on the appropriate
response. Japan officially resumed some imports of beef from
the United States and Canada last month.

The incident comes as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert
Zoellick is due to visit Japan on Sunday and Monday.

Earlier, Nakagawa said a thorough investigation 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 by
national broadcaster NHK.

Before the ban, Japan was the top importer of U.S. beef,
buying $1.4 billion worth 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 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.