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Senators threaten Japan over beef ban; Japan discovers another BSE case
by Pete Hisey on 2/28/05 for Meatingplace.com
A letter signed by 20 U.S. senators, mainly from farm states, threatens retaliation if Japan does not lift its ban on U.S. beef products.
The letter, sent to Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Rato, said, "If the Japanese government fails to lift the ban expeditiously, we are afraid that the U.S. Congress may pursue equitable, retaliatory economic actions against Japan."
At roughly the same time that the letter was delivered to the embassy, Rato was no doubt reading about a 15th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy discovered in Japan. Further tests are scheduled, but the animal, found dead on a farm, tested positive in initial tests. No further details were available as of Friday afternoon.
The import of American beef has become a political hot potato in Japan, where consumers have been reassured by the Japanese policy of testing every animal at slaughter to guarantee that BSE-infected meat is not entering the food supply. The death of a man in his early 50s of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in December has alarmed consumers. Philip Seng, chief executive of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, said that while Japanese consumers prefer American beef to the leaner, grass-fed Australian version, "BSE was just a blight on the meat industry" in Japan. Additionally, the issue gives Japanese opposition parties an issue with which to beat the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over the head.
To fend off charges later that the government was cavalier in reopening the market, or as the opposition phrases it, caved to American arm-twisting, the political end of the Japanese government is going to be "meticulous; they are going to look at every detail," Seng told Meatingplace.com.
Senators threaten Japan over beef ban; Japan discovers another BSE case
by Pete Hisey on 2/28/05 for Meatingplace.com
A letter signed by 20 U.S. senators, mainly from farm states, threatens retaliation if Japan does not lift its ban on U.S. beef products.
The letter, sent to Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Rato, said, "If the Japanese government fails to lift the ban expeditiously, we are afraid that the U.S. Congress may pursue equitable, retaliatory economic actions against Japan."
At roughly the same time that the letter was delivered to the embassy, Rato was no doubt reading about a 15th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy discovered in Japan. Further tests are scheduled, but the animal, found dead on a farm, tested positive in initial tests. No further details were available as of Friday afternoon.
The import of American beef has become a political hot potato in Japan, where consumers have been reassured by the Japanese policy of testing every animal at slaughter to guarantee that BSE-infected meat is not entering the food supply. The death of a man in his early 50s of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in December has alarmed consumers. Philip Seng, chief executive of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, said that while Japanese consumers prefer American beef to the leaner, grass-fed Australian version, "BSE was just a blight on the meat industry" in Japan. Additionally, the issue gives Japanese opposition parties an issue with which to beat the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over the head.
To fend off charges later that the government was cavalier in reopening the market, or as the opposition phrases it, caved to American arm-twisting, the political end of the Japanese government is going to be "meticulous; they are going to look at every detail," Seng told Meatingplace.com.
