Swift plant disqualified, no beef to JPN

[Tommy]

Swift plant disqualified, no beef to JPN

U.S. disqualifies plant as processor of beef for shipment to Japan



(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

TMC Net



TOKYO, Feb. 16_2006_(Kyodo) _ The U.S. government has informed Japan that it has disqualified major U.S. meat packer Swift Beef Co.'s plant in Nebraska as a processor of beef for export to Japan due to a violation of procedures, the Japanese government said Thursday.



The Nebraska plant is one of the 38 slaughterhouses authorized to process beef for shipments to Japan.



According to the information from Washington, Swift Beef has presented the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a quality control program stating that its head office would designate suppliers of cattle whose ages can be confirmed in compliance with conditions set by the Japanese government, said the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.



It turned out, however, that the Nebraska plant made the designation on its own, the ministries said.



In mid-December, Japan lifted a two-year-old ban on U.S. beef imports it imposed due to mad cow disease concerns. Conditions set by Japan limit imports to meat from cattle aged up to 20 months and require the removal of brains, spinal cords and other materials that could transmit the disease before shipping.



But the Japanese government reintroduced the ban on Jan. 20 after a prohibited backbone was found in a shipment of beef from the United States.



The procedural violation by the Nebraska plant was found through a U.S. government investigation conducted under terms agreed upon by Tokyo and Washington for the resumption of American beef imports.



While the Nebraska plant has shipped some 30 tons of beef to Japan since last December, production data recovered by U.S. government investigators show that the shipments cleared the Japanese conditions for imports, the ministries said.

 

[Jason]

I guess investigations into plants are being conducted after all.

 

[Sandhusker]

I guess investigations into plants are being conducted after all.

Was it GIPSA?

 

[Jason]

Does it matter? They were investigated and suffered the penalty for non compliance.

 

[Econ101]

What about the other 1,000 cases found where non compliance of bse procedures were not followed?

It was alleged that Tyson used the USDA in the Hudson Foods recall and case and that led to Tyson taking over Hudson. If it is true and you get away with things like that, you don't have to keep doing it in an industry such as ours when it is so concentrated to make everyone go along with your "plan".

Competitive markets are needed and concentrated industries with oligoposonies and oligopolies just don't have it.

TOKYO, Feb. 16_2006_(Kyodo) _ The U.S. government has informed Japan that it has disqualified major U.S. meat packer Swift Beef Co.'s plant in Nebraska as a processor of beef for export to Japan due to a violation of procedures, the Japanese government said Thursday.

Based on the article, the U.S. disqualified Swift after Swift did this:

According to the information from Washington, Swift Beef has presented the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a quality control program stating that its head office would designate suppliers of cattle whose ages can be confirmed in compliance with conditions set by the Japanese government, said the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.



It turned out, however, that the Nebraska plant made the designation on its own, the ministries said.

They allowed the individual plant designate suppliers of cattle instead of the home office?

We need a little more information on this one but this is not a huge violation. Not at all like the USDA's (Johanne's) own negligence in fulfilling its regulatory responsibilities of enforcing the PSA.

Seems like the USDA is disqualifying a company from a foreign market for things that are a lot less aggregious than what the USDA itself does. Where is the inspecter oversight in this situation anyway?

We need some more information on this one but it should raise some big red flags the way this article reports it.

 

[mrj]

How do others read this? I see it as stating the Swift plant had agreed to provide beef from PRODUCER SOURCE/DATE VERIFIED cattle under 20 months of age, then supplied cattle SOMEONE AT THE PLANT IDENTIFIED as under 20 months of age, probably via dentition. I'm basing my thought on this partially on the first post, and partially on comment on the radio.

It seems apparent that USDA is showing the Japanese that they are willing to stringently enforce the rules of import/export.

I'm very sorry this happened. I think this may be a plant where some cattle we raised (but didn't own through the feedlot) were processed and then were shipped to Japan from several years ago. We were told it was an excellent facility. Hopefully things can be corrected, but it does appear that the Japanese are going to be tough traders......which should surprise no one.

Personally, I understand that dentition is not perfect, but believe it has it's uses. I would like to know if the agreement with the Japanese specifies source verification from original producer, or allows dentition as a means of determining age.

MRJ