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Report
No.240107 |
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- International - |
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Resumption Decided on U.S. Beef Import The Japanese government decided to resume imports of U.S. beef and so notified the U.S. government on July 27. The Japanese beef market had been closed in the wake of finding a commingling of vertebral colum of cattle in the U.S. shipments in January, but the decision reopens the market to 34 beef plants of the United States. The BSE Countermeasures Headquarters of both the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) held a joint meeting that day and endorsed the proposal to allow import of U.S. beef, taking account of the actions taken in the United States and the result of preliminary inspections by the Japanese government experts. The ministries reported the decision to the Food Safety Commission [of Japan] and notified the same to the U.S. government in a joint message. The two Japanese ministries sent inspectors to 35 meat packing plants in the United States from June 24. No problem was found in 20 plants, while 13 other plants had problems in documentation of procedures, which were hence corrected and shipments to Japan were permitted for them as well. One other plant, which was found to have slaughtered and shipped beef to Japan in December 2005 prior to obtaining official permit to do so, was placed under rigorous supervision for two months. Remaining one plant, found to have substantially changed the procedure in the wake of company amalgamation, was kept from Japanese shipment at this time. Some 1,000 tons of beef stored at bonded warehouses without custom clearance will be allowed to start import procedures after three months of observation of how things go after lifting of the ban. The Japanese government also decided not to issue permit to any new packing plant for Japanese shipment for the next 6 months, which are designated as a proof period. The first ban on import of U.S. beef was triggered when, in December 2003, the first case of BSE infection of a cow was detected there. The market reopening was endorsed by the Food Safety Commission on condition that import should be limited to "beef from cattle 20 months of age or younger and specific risk materials are removed." The import ban was lifted in December last year, but was re-imposed on January 20, 2006. As to the possible future case, the government indicated it will stand firm to make Japan's own judgment in case the conditions for import should be breached again when it said that "the risk control bodies of our country (each set up in MHLW and in MAFF) will make judgment case by case." However, for now, Mr. Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, MAFF's Senior Vice Minister talking at a press meeting on July 27 about the result of preliminary on-the-spot inspections in the United States said, the confirmation of age of cattle and feeding practice carried out on cattle farms and feed factories "were being properly implemented," according to MAFF's inspections conducted separately from packing house audits. |
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