Manitoba_Rancher
Well-known member
US handling of beef customer
David Kruse
CommStock Investments, Inc.
03/20/06
Japanese consumers wanted ID'd BSE tested beef and the USDA said no.
The Japanese government conceded to importing beef from young animals (under 21 months of age) with SRM removed.
They screwed that up so now the U.S. is starting to order them to reopen their beef market or we'll hit them in the nose.
"U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, Friday called on Japan to resume imports of his country's beef as early as possible, warning that a prolonged import ban could set off a trade war."
We have such an interesting way of handling foreign consumers. If they don't buy what we want to sell them we get mad and threaten them. Then we wonder why they don't like us.
agweb.com
Japan may ask U.S. for more details about beef safety measures
2006/3/22
TOKYO (AP)
The China Post
Japan may ask the U.S. for more details about its safety measures to prevent any repeat of an export error that sent banned beef parts considered at risk for mad cow disease to Japan, the health minister said Wednesday.
The U.S. government, which is trying to get Japan to overturn its most recent banned on U.S. beef, sent answers last Saturday to questions Tokyo had about an initial U.S. report on the matter, but the responses did not settle all of Japan's safety concerns, Health Minister Jiro Kawasaki said.
Kawasaki told reporters that the U.S. reply, for example, did not mention a similar export blunder in which another U.S. beef company sent banned bones in a shipment to Hong Kong.
"In that context, we cannot confirm the safety measures being taken at the remaining 38 facilities" approved for export to Japan, he said.
Speaking separately to reporters, Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Japan wants to hold talks with U.S. officials after carefully examining Washington's latest reply.
"We do want to keep going back and forth with the U.S. over this issue," he said. "We want the U.S. side to squarely answer our questions."
On Jan. 20, Brooklyn-based Atlantic Veal & Lamb sent a shipment of veal to Japan containing backbone, a violation of conditions Tokyo set for imports of U.S. beef. The incident prompted Tokyo to re-impose an import ban it had lifted less than a month before.
Washington's initial report, delivered in mid-February, said the mistake was an isolated error and did not indicate deep flaws in the American food safety system.
Tokyo, however, questioned whether the mistake was unique and whether similar errors might occur at other U.S. facilities certified to export to Japan.
The follow-up document sent Saturday reiterated Washington's assessment of the mistake as unique. It explained that government inspectors were unaware the company was approved for export to Japan and had not been informed of Japan's import requirements.
However, a similar export mishap occurred on March 11, when Swift Beef Co., based in Colorado, included bones in a shipment to Hong Kong. Hong Kong, which also bans bones as a mad cow disease risk, suspended imports from the company.
Japan, which was once the largest overseas market for U.S. beef, first banned imports in December 2003 after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S.
The ban was eased last December for beef from younger cows without body parts considered at risk for mad cow, but was imposed again after the faulty veal shipment.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a degenerative nerve disease in cattle. Eating contaminated meat products has been linked to the rare but fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
David Kruse
CommStock Investments, Inc.
03/20/06
Japanese consumers wanted ID'd BSE tested beef and the USDA said no.
The Japanese government conceded to importing beef from young animals (under 21 months of age) with SRM removed.
They screwed that up so now the U.S. is starting to order them to reopen their beef market or we'll hit them in the nose.
"U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, Friday called on Japan to resume imports of his country's beef as early as possible, warning that a prolonged import ban could set off a trade war."
We have such an interesting way of handling foreign consumers. If they don't buy what we want to sell them we get mad and threaten them. Then we wonder why they don't like us.
agweb.com
Japan may ask U.S. for more details about beef safety measures
2006/3/22
TOKYO (AP)
The China Post
Japan may ask the U.S. for more details about its safety measures to prevent any repeat of an export error that sent banned beef parts considered at risk for mad cow disease to Japan, the health minister said Wednesday.
The U.S. government, which is trying to get Japan to overturn its most recent banned on U.S. beef, sent answers last Saturday to questions Tokyo had about an initial U.S. report on the matter, but the responses did not settle all of Japan's safety concerns, Health Minister Jiro Kawasaki said.
Kawasaki told reporters that the U.S. reply, for example, did not mention a similar export blunder in which another U.S. beef company sent banned bones in a shipment to Hong Kong.
"In that context, we cannot confirm the safety measures being taken at the remaining 38 facilities" approved for export to Japan, he said.
Speaking separately to reporters, Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Japan wants to hold talks with U.S. officials after carefully examining Washington's latest reply.
"We do want to keep going back and forth with the U.S. over this issue," he said. "We want the U.S. side to squarely answer our questions."
On Jan. 20, Brooklyn-based Atlantic Veal & Lamb sent a shipment of veal to Japan containing backbone, a violation of conditions Tokyo set for imports of U.S. beef. The incident prompted Tokyo to re-impose an import ban it had lifted less than a month before.
Washington's initial report, delivered in mid-February, said the mistake was an isolated error and did not indicate deep flaws in the American food safety system.
Tokyo, however, questioned whether the mistake was unique and whether similar errors might occur at other U.S. facilities certified to export to Japan.
The follow-up document sent Saturday reiterated Washington's assessment of the mistake as unique. It explained that government inspectors were unaware the company was approved for export to Japan and had not been informed of Japan's import requirements.
However, a similar export mishap occurred on March 11, when Swift Beef Co., based in Colorado, included bones in a shipment to Hong Kong. Hong Kong, which also bans bones as a mad cow disease risk, suspended imports from the company.
Japan, which was once the largest overseas market for U.S. beef, first banned imports in December 2003 after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S.
The ban was eased last December for beef from younger cows without body parts considered at risk for mad cow, but was imposed again after the faulty veal shipment.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a degenerative nerve disease in cattle. Eating contaminated meat products has been linked to the rare but fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
