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Japan OKs imports of Canadian beef; finds mad cow precautions up to standard
Yahoo! News Canada
March 20, 2006
TOKYO (CP) - All but one of the eight Canadian meat processing plants that export to Japan have been given a clean bill of health by Japanese inspectors, a government statement said Monday.
All five facilities in Alberta were deemed safe from mad cow disease during the March 12-19 inspections, but one failed to gain export approval because the Canadian government provided inadequate information, the Japanese Health and Agriculture ministries said in a joint statement. There was no elaboration on the missing information.
"Each packer has set down in writing the procedures necessary under the export program, and these procedures are being followed," the statement said.
Tokyo imposed a ban on U.S. and Canadian beef imports in 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease was detected in the two countries, but reopened its market in December to meat from cattle 20 months old or less.
However, Tokyo re-imposed its ban on U.S. beef imports in January after discovering prohibited bone parts in a shipment of American veal.
The deal prohibited the import of spines, brains, bone marrow and other cattle parts thought to be at particularly high risk of containing the disease.
Washington contends the mistaken shipment was an isolated error and did not indicate weaknesses in the American food safety system.
Tokyo, however, has questioned whether the mistake was unique, and whether similar errors might occur in other U.S. facilities certified to export to Japan.
The Canadian plant inspections were routine and unrelated to the illicit U.S. shipment, Health Ministry official Makoto Kanie said.
Japanese officials have now completed their tour of all Canadian facilities that export meat to Japan, according to Kanie.
Eight plants - including the five in Alberta, two in Ontario and one in Saskatchewan - currently have permission to process Tokyo-bound shipments, Kanie said.
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 in humans.
Canadian beef began reappearing on Tokyo supermarket shelves in December following the two-year ban. However, Canadian officials concede it might take years to rebuild the confidence of Japanese consumers in North American beef.
Entry into Japan is considered key to the long-term recovery plan of Canada's battered beef industry, which had suffered $7 billion in lost exports since 2003. Cattle officials have pinned their hopes on a growing appetite from Pacific Rim countries to help reduce the reliance on the U.S. market, which gobbles up the vast majority of Canadian beef exports.
Japan OKs imports of Canadian beef; finds mad cow precautions up to standard
Yahoo! News Canada
March 20, 2006
TOKYO (CP) - All but one of the eight Canadian meat processing plants that export to Japan have been given a clean bill of health by Japanese inspectors, a government statement said Monday.
All five facilities in Alberta were deemed safe from mad cow disease during the March 12-19 inspections, but one failed to gain export approval because the Canadian government provided inadequate information, the Japanese Health and Agriculture ministries said in a joint statement. There was no elaboration on the missing information.
"Each packer has set down in writing the procedures necessary under the export program, and these procedures are being followed," the statement said.
Tokyo imposed a ban on U.S. and Canadian beef imports in 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease was detected in the two countries, but reopened its market in December to meat from cattle 20 months old or less.
However, Tokyo re-imposed its ban on U.S. beef imports in January after discovering prohibited bone parts in a shipment of American veal.
The deal prohibited the import of spines, brains, bone marrow and other cattle parts thought to be at particularly high risk of containing the disease.
Washington contends the mistaken shipment was an isolated error and did not indicate weaknesses in the American food safety system.
Tokyo, however, has questioned whether the mistake was unique, and whether similar errors might occur in other U.S. facilities certified to export to Japan.
The Canadian plant inspections were routine and unrelated to the illicit U.S. shipment, Health Ministry official Makoto Kanie said.
Japanese officials have now completed their tour of all Canadian facilities that export meat to Japan, according to Kanie.
Eight plants - including the five in Alberta, two in Ontario and one in Saskatchewan - currently have permission to process Tokyo-bound shipments, Kanie said.
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 in humans.
Canadian beef began reappearing on Tokyo supermarket shelves in December following the two-year ban. However, Canadian officials concede it might take years to rebuild the confidence of Japanese consumers in North American beef.
Entry into Japan is considered key to the long-term recovery plan of Canada's battered beef industry, which had suffered $7 billion in lost exports since 2003. Cattle officials have pinned their hopes on a growing appetite from Pacific Rim countries to help reduce the reliance on the U.S. market, which gobbles up the vast majority of Canadian beef exports.
