A
Anonymous
Guest
Creekstone Farms to ship first exports to Japan this weekend
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A Kansas meat processor that made international headlines after the Agriculture Department refused to allow it to voluntarily test all cattle for mad cow disease will resume exports to Japan.
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef will begin shipments this weekend, company officials said.
"This is a long-awaited, wonderful gift for our employees and for the community," said John Stewart, Creekstone's chief executive officer and founder. Stewart and other company officials were at the Arkansas City plant Friday to oversee preparation of the shipment.
Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003 after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was reported in a Washington state dairy cow later traced to Canada. At that time, Japan represented 25 percent of Creekstone's sales.
Tokyo lifted the ban Monday on beef from U.S. cows younger than 21 months.
Creekstone asked permission from the Department of Agriculture in February 2004 to allow testing for mad cow disease of all the cattle slaughtered at its Arkansas City plant. Its request was denied.
"It's been challenging," Stewart said of Creekstone's efforts to re-establish trade.
Two Creekstone customer representatives from Japan were in Arkansas City this week to arrange for the export shipment.
"They were here looking at product; they took a lot of pictures," said Rich Swearingen, Creekstone's vice president for international and ethnic sales.
The first export shipment to Japan consists of 34,000 pounds of chilled beef including various cuts of meat, officials said. It will be loaded into an ocean container that will leave from a port in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday and is scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Jan. 2.
A total of six containers, each with 34,000 pounds of products, will be shipped to Japan by next week.
"We have 2 million pounds already sold to Japan," Swearingen said. "We're now working on sales for late January and February."
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A Kansas meat processor that made international headlines after the Agriculture Department refused to allow it to voluntarily test all cattle for mad cow disease will resume exports to Japan.
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef will begin shipments this weekend, company officials said.
"This is a long-awaited, wonderful gift for our employees and for the community," said John Stewart, Creekstone's chief executive officer and founder. Stewart and other company officials were at the Arkansas City plant Friday to oversee preparation of the shipment.
Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003 after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was reported in a Washington state dairy cow later traced to Canada. At that time, Japan represented 25 percent of Creekstone's sales.
Tokyo lifted the ban Monday on beef from U.S. cows younger than 21 months.
Creekstone asked permission from the Department of Agriculture in February 2004 to allow testing for mad cow disease of all the cattle slaughtered at its Arkansas City plant. Its request was denied.
"It's been challenging," Stewart said of Creekstone's efforts to re-establish trade.
Two Creekstone customer representatives from Japan were in Arkansas City this week to arrange for the export shipment.
"They were here looking at product; they took a lot of pictures," said Rich Swearingen, Creekstone's vice president for international and ethnic sales.
The first export shipment to Japan consists of 34,000 pounds of chilled beef including various cuts of meat, officials said. It will be loaded into an ocean container that will leave from a port in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday and is scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Jan. 2.
A total of six containers, each with 34,000 pounds of products, will be shipped to Japan by next week.
"We have 2 million pounds already sold to Japan," Swearingen said. "We're now working on sales for late January and February."