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Japan agrees to ease ban on US beef
AP Tokyo Dec 12: Japan agreed on Monday to ease the country's ban on US and Canadian beef imports, resolving a bitter trans-Pacific trade dispute two years after the first case of mad cow disease was discovered in the US herd.
But the easing of the ban was accompanied by a host of new rules for North American beef. Japan said it would only import meat from cows younger than 21 months because no cases of mad cow disease have ever been found in cows that age. The new regulations also demand that US inspectors follow strict guidelines, such as removing dangerous cow material such as brains and spinal cords.
Japan will dispatch inspection teams to review North American exporting facilities starting Tuesday, the health ministry said.
"The issue of food safety is a fundamental part of everyday life, and we will do our best to ensure it," said Japan's Vice-Agricultural Minister, Mr Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi.
The US Agriculture Secretary, Mr Mike Johanns said he believed US beef could arrive in Japan within 10 days. He said Monday's decision was "an important step in terms of normalising beef trade based on scientific standards".Japanese Meat inspection vet will work in the US. plants.Documention from each producer 's animal will be needed in order to be exported .
Japan will halt imports from individual producers found violating the new rules, Mr Miyakoshi said. If abuses are widespread, Japan will re-evaluate implementing another sweeping ban.
Japan estimates that under the new guidelines, some 5 million American cows could prove eligible for export.
The decision, formally adopted on Monday by Japan's agriculture and health ministries, follows a recommendation from the country's Food Safety Commission last week to resume limited imports.
Before the ban, Japan had purchased more American beef than any other country in the world, buying $1.4 billion worth in 2003.
But surveys show Japanese are now leery of US beef and unwilling to buy it, without documention of each piece of beef and the producer who raised it while American ranchers say the series of new safety requirements imposed by Tokyo could keep many producers from tapping the market anyway.
While the United States has had two cases of mad cow disease, Japan has reported 21 since its first case in 2001, including one death.
The health ministry, however, believes the man, who died in December 2004, contracted the disease from eating beef during a one-month stay in Britain.
Japan's latest livestock case was confirmed over the weekend, when the agriculture ministry determined that a cow that died last week had the sickness, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Kyodo News agency reported.
Eating beef from cattle infected with mad cow disease can cause the fatal brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
A survey last week by Kyodo showed some 75 per cent of Japanese are unwilling to eat US beef because of mad cow fears, compared to 21 per cent who said they would consume it. Most worry about the reliability of US inspection measures.
Mr Johanns said an announcement would come on Monday on whether the US will lift its own ban on Japanese beef. The agriculture department has been working since August on a rule that would lift the ban, which the United States imposes on countries with cases of mad cow disease.
The US lifted a ban on Canadian beef earlier this year.
American ranchers, meanwhile, are daunted by the extra expense of breaking back into the Japanese market.
Mr Steve Pilcher, executive vice-president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said the move toward resumption of beef trade was "obviously a significant day for all cattle producers and all involved in the livestock industry."
Selling beef to Japan will generally mean keeping a paper trail from the ranch to the feedlot to the slaughterhouse, to verify cattle are killed at 20 months of age or younger. But birth records alone will not do, and in many cases, producers will need third-party verification of their documents and herds for corroboration, according to beef experts at Iowa State University.
Although Japan has reported more cases of mad cow disease than the US, Japan tests every domestic cow that goes to the slaughter house, and it initially demanded that the US do the same before resuming trade.
US authorities balked at the cost of testing the huge American herd and argued that it was not scientifically necessary.
******Only ScoringAg gets the data directly to the Consumer.
AP Tokyo Dec 12: Japan agreed on Monday to ease the country's ban on US and Canadian beef imports, resolving a bitter trans-Pacific trade dispute two years after the first case of mad cow disease was discovered in the US herd.
But the easing of the ban was accompanied by a host of new rules for North American beef. Japan said it would only import meat from cows younger than 21 months because no cases of mad cow disease have ever been found in cows that age. The new regulations also demand that US inspectors follow strict guidelines, such as removing dangerous cow material such as brains and spinal cords.
Japan will dispatch inspection teams to review North American exporting facilities starting Tuesday, the health ministry said.
"The issue of food safety is a fundamental part of everyday life, and we will do our best to ensure it," said Japan's Vice-Agricultural Minister, Mr Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi.
The US Agriculture Secretary, Mr Mike Johanns said he believed US beef could arrive in Japan within 10 days. He said Monday's decision was "an important step in terms of normalising beef trade based on scientific standards".Japanese Meat inspection vet will work in the US. plants.Documention from each producer 's animal will be needed in order to be exported .
Japan will halt imports from individual producers found violating the new rules, Mr Miyakoshi said. If abuses are widespread, Japan will re-evaluate implementing another sweeping ban.
Japan estimates that under the new guidelines, some 5 million American cows could prove eligible for export.
The decision, formally adopted on Monday by Japan's agriculture and health ministries, follows a recommendation from the country's Food Safety Commission last week to resume limited imports.
Before the ban, Japan had purchased more American beef than any other country in the world, buying $1.4 billion worth in 2003.
But surveys show Japanese are now leery of US beef and unwilling to buy it, without documention of each piece of beef and the producer who raised it while American ranchers say the series of new safety requirements imposed by Tokyo could keep many producers from tapping the market anyway.
While the United States has had two cases of mad cow disease, Japan has reported 21 since its first case in 2001, including one death.
The health ministry, however, believes the man, who died in December 2004, contracted the disease from eating beef during a one-month stay in Britain.
Japan's latest livestock case was confirmed over the weekend, when the agriculture ministry determined that a cow that died last week had the sickness, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Kyodo News agency reported.
Eating beef from cattle infected with mad cow disease can cause the fatal brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
A survey last week by Kyodo showed some 75 per cent of Japanese are unwilling to eat US beef because of mad cow fears, compared to 21 per cent who said they would consume it. Most worry about the reliability of US inspection measures.
Mr Johanns said an announcement would come on Monday on whether the US will lift its own ban on Japanese beef. The agriculture department has been working since August on a rule that would lift the ban, which the United States imposes on countries with cases of mad cow disease.
The US lifted a ban on Canadian beef earlier this year.
American ranchers, meanwhile, are daunted by the extra expense of breaking back into the Japanese market.
Mr Steve Pilcher, executive vice-president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said the move toward resumption of beef trade was "obviously a significant day for all cattle producers and all involved in the livestock industry."
Selling beef to Japan will generally mean keeping a paper trail from the ranch to the feedlot to the slaughterhouse, to verify cattle are killed at 20 months of age or younger. But birth records alone will not do, and in many cases, producers will need third-party verification of their documents and herds for corroboration, according to beef experts at Iowa State University.
Although Japan has reported more cases of mad cow disease than the US, Japan tests every domestic cow that goes to the slaughter house, and it initially demanded that the US do the same before resuming trade.
US authorities balked at the cost of testing the huge American herd and argued that it was not scientifically necessary.
******Only ScoringAg gets the data directly to the Consumer.
ocumention from each producer 's animal will be needed in order to be exported . 
