Japan seeks assurances for U.S. beef
February 21, 2006
The Associated Press
Kana Inagaki
TOKYO -- Japan will resume imports of U.S. beef only if Washington can convince Tokyo that it will implement effective safeguards against mad cow disease, a top Japanese official said Tuesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said the government was still examining a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on the faulty veal shipment that prompted Japan to close its markets to American beef last month.
Japan's agriculture minister said on Monday that the report was insufficient and raised a lot of questions, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said a quick resumption of imports was unlikely.
Abe, who said he hadn't read the 475-page report and couldn't comment on its contents, said Japan would ask the U.S. for clarification if needed.
"If, after all that, the U.S. can convince us that preventive measures will be firmly taken from the perspective of food safety and security, then we will resume the imports at that point," Abe told reporters.
Japan closed its doors to American beef last month after the discovery of banned backbones in a shipment of U.S. veal, a violation of the pact that reopened Japan's market to the meat in December.
The U.S. had hoped that the report on the mishap issued last week would quickly lead to steps to allow the resumption of imports to what was once U.S. beef's most lucrative overseas market.
Japan eased a two-year-old ban on U.S. beef in December, limiting imports to meat from American cows 20 months old or younger, and banning brains, bone marrow and other parts thought to be high risk for mad cow disease.
In the report on the veal shipment, submitted to Japan late Friday, Washington acknowledged that workers and government inspectors involved didn't understand the rules governing beef exports to Japan.
The report also pledged to increase the number of inspectors carrying out checks on Japan-bound beef, and improve inspector training.
The study followed numerous apologies by U.S. government officials for the embarrassing mishap, which raised suspicions among Japanese consumers that Washington was not taking their concerns seriously.
