Plant, inspector ill-informed on Japan veal: US

By Sophie Walker

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. company shipped veal to Japan
that contained banned spinal column because the exporter and
inspector were not sufficiently familiar with the requirements
of the new export program, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike
Johanns said on Friday.

The veal was shipped by Atlantic Veal and Lamb and supplied
by Golden Veal, both of which were certified on January 6. U.S.
Agriculture Department personnel confirmed at that time that
both understood the requirements of the program, Johanns said.

It was the first shipment of veal delivered and both plants
were delisted before others could be sent, he added.

“I don’t want to make excuses. The plant should have known.
The inspectors should have known,” Johanns told reporters,
adding USDA inspectors will now undergo “extensive” mandatory
training so they understand the Japan beef export program.

Before 2004 Japan was the biggest buyer of U.S. beef, with
annual trade worth about $1.4 billion.

In addition to the banned spinal column, the shipment also
included veal offal from animals slaughtered before the plant
was certified.

“While Atlantic was authorized to ship veal offal to Japan,
Golden Veal was not authorized to supply it to Japan. Not only
was veal offal from this source not approved to be shipped to
Japan, the quantity of offal in the shipment could not have
come from the 21 calves slaughtered after the plant was
certified to ship to Japan,” Johanns said.

“So, some of the offal had to have come from animals
slaughtered before the plant was certified to ship the product
into Japan,” Johanns added.

Japan suspended U.S. beef imports on January 20, after its
inspectors discovered banned spinal material in the shipment of
veal. The halt came just a month after Japan ended a two-year
ban on U.S. beef imposed over mad cow disease fears.

Johanns said he had no “real insight” into when the Japan
beef market would reopen, counter to a USDA report last week
that indicated shipments could begin in the second quarter.
Tokyo had indicated it may require some additional inspection
of plants after working through the U.S. report, he added.

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, head of the Senate
agriculture committee, said he was confident that the report
would clear up any misunderstanding relating to the new
agreement and that trade with Japan would soon restart.

“I am confident that both governments’ clear understanding
of what caused this one lapse in our export agreement will
strengthen the bilateral trade relationship between our nations
and that beef trade will soon resume based on the principles of
transparency and sound science,” he said in a statement.

‘NO RISK’

Johanns said the problem shipment posed no risk to human
health.”

“I enjoy beef every day in my diet … there isn’t a danger
here to the Japanese consumer,” Johanns said. “I want to
express how sincerely we regret the situation here. We need to
send a strong message that we will live by the (export)
program.”

The American Meat Institute commended USDA for the
thoroughness of its reports, which it said made clear the event
was the result of an “isolated and inadvertent error.”

“We urge the government of Japan to end the suspension of
beef imports from the U.S. and resume beef trade as soon as
possible,” AMI President Patrick Boyle said in a statement.

Japan’s two-year ban on U.S. beef imports — and an often
painfully slow review process — caused tension between the two
countries and prompted some U.S. lawmakers to call for
sanctions on Japan before trade was briefly restarted.

Asked whether he thought Tokyo would use the latest
incident as a means of again barring U.S. exports indefinitely,
Johanns replied: “I hope this is not a situation where there’s
an attempt to look for any reason (to keep U.S. beef out of
Japan). My hope is that we can work through the report and
renew trading relations.”