Foreword
Strengthened Measures for Food Safety

Although there had been no occurrence of BSE reported in Japan until the summer of 2001, the first infected cattle was detected on September 10 in the same year.

The outbreak of BSE has brought an unprecedented damage to the Japanese livestock industry, as well as great anxiety to Japanese consumers.  Therefore, nationwide actions have been launched including the thorough-going pursuit of the source and route of infection, establishment of safety measures for consumption, management stabilization of livestock farmers and meat distributors, and arrangement and expansion of testing and research.

Specifically, these actions are: BSE inspection for every head of beef cattle at abattoirs, the prohibition of production/sales/utilization of meat and bone meal (MBM) for feed use, the establishment of a beef traceability system.  The relevant laws and cabinet and ministerial ordinances have been amended, followed by the enactment of the BSE “Special Countermeasures Law” in 2002, and “Special Measures Law for Control and Communication of Individual Bovine Identification Information (Beef Traceability Law) in June 2003.

Furthermore, “Food Safety & Consumer Affairs Bureau” was established in July, 2003 as a part of reorganization of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) with a view to securing safety of foods and regaining consumer confidence on food safety administration.  On the same day of MAFF reorganization, “the Basic Law on Food Safety” also took effect which installed “Food Safety Commission” within the Cabinet Office, whose role is to make assessment of the influence foods on human health and give recommendations to related government ministries to take appropriate actions.

Thus, in the wake of an outbreak of BSE, the administration to better respond to consumer concerns about food safety has been put into force in dynamic manner in Japan.

In the meantime, Canada saw the first outbreak of BSE in May, 2003, followed by detection of BSE infected cattle in the United States of America in December, the same year.  The government of Japan has wasted no time in making response to secure safety of food including putting a ban on import of beef from these countries.

Then, avian flu has taken place in parts of South-East Asia and China and that infection has spread to Japan by early 2004.  The government of Japan has made quick response to this as well by a ban on import of poultry meat etc. from these countries and various other measures to prevent further spread of the flu in the country.

This Special Edition on Livestock reproduces articles on livestock especially as they relate to food safety measures taken in the wake of an outbreak of BSE.  Articles reproduced had appeared on volumes from May, 2003 to April, 2004, and regrouped in this edition for easy reference of our mail magazine subscribers and other readers.
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