The United States is increasing pressure on Japan to lift its ban on U.S. beef imports, with the U.S. Congress and industry groups calling for sanctions against Japan unless the market is reopened.
Discussion in Japan has been slow over relaxing the test regulations for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, set as a precondition to resuming U.S. beef imports.
The government faces a tough decision as it would be accused of yielding to U.S. pressure and neglecting food safety by hastily agreeing to a review of blanket testing of cattle.
Tokyo and Washington had agreed U.S. beef imports to Japan would only be resumed after a review of the blanket testing system.
Procedures to allow imports of U.S. beef cannot be implemented until the test rules are relaxed. However, discussion in the Food Safety Commission on the matter has been slow, leaving the government unable to decide on the next move.
In October, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry proposed that the commission review BSE standards and discontinue testing of cattle aged 20 months or younger.
The commission was expected to make a response by the end of last year, since it had released a report in September that supported reviewing the blanket tests.
However, concerns over possible consumer protest have steered the committee to take a cautious stance, and discussions have been prolonged. A response from the committee is now most likely to occur in May, which means the import ban could not be lifted until autumn at the earliest.
The government is frustrated over the unexpected delay in discussions by the committee.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshinobu Shimamura referred to the blanket test as "nonsense," at the House of Representatives budget committee on Feb. 25, and reiterated his belief in a statement Wednesday.
The Food Safety Commission has been criticized for meeting only about once every three weeks. However, pressuring the commission to meet more frequently would run against the purpose of the commission--which is to make a fair, impartial judgment on food safety, according to some observers.
"We don't want them to jump to a conclusion," Yasufumi Tanahashi, state minister in charge of science, technology and food safety said.
"I'm concerned over the impact the issue will have on Japan-U.S. relations, so we need to at least decide on a specific schedule for resuming imports," a government source said, with a possible visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for later this month on the horizon.
