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Japan Resumes US Beef Imports After 2-Year Break

Posted on: Friday, 16 December 2005, 03:35 CST

By Aya Takada

TOKYO -- The first shipment of U.S. beef to Japan since Tokyo eased a two-year-old ban earlier this week arrived at a Japanese airport on Friday, and Japan's quarantine office declared that the beef met import requirements.

The Japanese government on Monday lifted a ban on imports of beef and beef offal from U.S. cattle aged up to 20 months, on condition that risk materials that could transmit mad cow disease are removed before the meat is shipped.

"We have completed inspection of the cargo and have not found any violation of the requirements," said an official at the quarantine office of Narita International Airport.

Japan still bans beef from American cattle older than 20 months, as they may be at higher risk from mad cow disease, officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

The U.S. cargo contained 4.3 tons of chilled beef and 300 kg of tongue and diaphragm produced by Harris Ranch Beef Co. of California. The importer is Marudai Food Co. Ltd., a Japanese maker of ham and sausage.

A Marudai spokesman said the shipment was sampled to assess its quality, and samples would also be provided to its customers such as retailers.

"As we have not treated U.S. beef in the past two years, we need to check its quality first before recommending the meat to clients," he said.

Nippon Meat Packers Inc., a major Japanese meat processor, said it would also import a small volume of U.S. beef for quality checks, and the cargo was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Sunday.

Japan banned U.S. beef in December 2003 after the discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease in Washington state.

Before the ban, Japan was the top importer of U.S. beef, buying $1.4 billion worth in 2003.

The easing of the ban averted a trade war with the United States, where lawmakers had threatened retaliatory tariffs on Japanese products unless it was lifted by mid-December.

Following the Japanese action, the United States said on Monday it had lifted a ban on Japanese beef imposed four years ago after the discovery of Japan's first BSE case.

Japan's National Federation of Agricultural Co-Operative Associations (Zen-Noh) plans next Monday to send the first beef shipment to the United States since the end of the ban.

Always fatal, mad cow disease is believed to be caused by malformed proteins and spread through infected feed.

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human version of BSE, is thought to be spread by eating contaminated meat. It has caused more than 150 deaths worldwide, including one in Japan.

Japanese retailers are generally cautious about restarting sales of U.S. beef, as media polls have shown that many Japanese consumers remain concerned about the safety of U.S. beef.

Adding to their cautious stance is the fact that well-matured beef normally tastes better than meat from young cattle, beef traders said.

Traders expect that if Japan continues to ban beef from cattle aged more than 20 months, the volume of U.S. beef imports will be less than 20 percent of the amount it imported before the ban.

The U.S. beef industry has been urging the Japanese government to lift the ban completely.

But the Japanese government is reluctant to raise the cattle age limit in the face of opposition from consumers. Japan has set the 20-month ceiling because the youngest case of mad cow disease in Japan was found in a 21-month-old animal in 2003.

Source: REUTERS

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