Japan to Check First U.S. Beef Shipment Since Mad Cow Ban Ended
Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Japan will today inspect the first shipment of U.S. beef to arrive since the country ended a six- month ban imposed over mad cow disease concern.
Costco Wholesale Japan Inc., the Japanese unit of the U.S. discount warehouse retailer, imported the 5.1-ton shipment, processed by Cargill Inc., in Colorado state, Japan's Ministry of Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries said in a statement.
Japan and more than 60 nations banned U.S. beef after mad- cow disease was found in Washington state in December 2003, causing losses at U.S. meatpackers such as Cargill and Tyson Foods Inc., the world's biggest beef producer. Japan halted imports of U.S. beef again on Jan. 20, after banned material was found in a shipment of veal just weeks after it lifted the two- year embargo.
Before the ban, Japan was the biggest buyer of U.S. beef, purchasing $1.4 billion of the $3.8 billion exported in 2003.
The first shipment since the ban was ended on July 28 arrived yesterday at Narita International Airport, east of Tokyo, the farm ministry's statement said.
Japanese inspectors checked U.S. meatpackers and approved 34 as exporters to Japan after the U.S. pressed Japan to re-open its market.
Mad-cow disease, which is also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is spread in cattle by tainted feed. The human form of the disease, contracted when people eat meat from infected animals, has been blamed for more than 150 deaths, mostly in the U.K. where the disease was first reported in the 1980s.
To contact the reporter for this story:
Megumi Yamanaka in Tokyo at myamanaka@bloomberg.net.
