• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Japan says unclear if U.S. beef actions would work

Posted on: Monday, 6 March 2006, 03:38 CST

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's vice farm minister said on Monday it is unclear if actions proposed by Washington would help prevent shipments of banned U.S. beef to Japan.

Japan suspended U.S. beef imports on January 20, just a month after it eased a two-year-old ban on U.S. beef imposed over mad cow disease fears, when Japanese inspectors discovered banned spinal material in a veal shipment from New York.

The U.S. Agriculture Department submitted to Japan on February 17 a report that examined how the violation occurred and USDA steps to prevent a repetition.

"With regard to the cause of the violation and steps to prevent a recurrence, there are several unclear points," Vice Agriculture Minister Mamoru Ishihara told a news conference on Monday.

The Japanese government was sending questions about the U.S. report to Washington later on monday, he added.

Japan will also seek a U.S. explanation about whether USDA properly certifies U.S. meatpacking plants as eligible beef suppliers to Japan, and whether it is properly inspecting such plants, Ishihara said.

The USDA report said a U.S. firm made an ineligible shipment because the exporter and the USDA inspector were not sufficiently familiar with the requirements of Japan's beef export programme.

The veal was shipped by Atlantic Veal and Lamb and supplied by Golden Veal, both of which were certified on January 6. USDA personnel confirmed at the time that both understood the requirements of the programme.

In December, Japan lifted a ban on imports from the U.S. of beef and beef offal from cattle aged up to 20 months, on condition that specified risk materials that could spread the disease, such as spinal cords, were removed before shipment.

Before the initial ban, Japan was the top importer of U.S. beef. In 2003, it imported 240,000 tonnes of U.S. beef valued at $1.4 billion, about one-quarter of total Japanese beef demand.

The Japanese government, under fire from opposition critics who say it lifted the ban too quickly under U.S. pressure, is cautious about an early resumption of beef imports.

On Saturday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns predicted that U.S. beef exports to Japan would resume "very, very quickly" and said he hoped to make progress on such a timetable at meetings in London.

Johanns and Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa are considering discussing the beef issue when they meet on the sidelines of world trade talks in London later this week.

Johanns said Japanese inspectors would be welcome to conduct spot checks of U.S. beef plants to alleviate safety concerns.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category