Japan lifts ban on U.S. Beef

By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press

Feedlot cattle in a January 2004 file image. (AP / Jeff McIntosh)

Tokyo - Japan has agreed to lift its ban on U.S. beef imports, pending planned inspections of American meat processing plants, the two governments said today in a joint statement.

The breakthrough resolves a thorny, long-running trade dispute between the allies and gives U.S. ranchers access to what was once their most lucrative export market.
The ban, first imposed in 2003 over concerns that U.S. beef might be infected with mad cow disease, was lifted at the end of last year for just a month before Japan again halted U.S. beef shipments in January.

"Japan agreed to resume U.S. beef imports on the condition that we find no further problems during onsite inspections," said agriculture ministry official Hiroaki Ogura.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi praised the accord.

"The U.S. thought we were slow in reaching this decision, while we thought otherwise," Koizumi told reporters. "Our opinions were different, so we discussed the issue. It's a good agreement." U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said he was hopeful the conditional agreement would lead to a resumption of imports.

Opposition party leaders and consumer groups criticized the decision as hasty. The Japan Consumers Union said in a statement that it was reached for political reasons without regard for food safety or consumer health.

Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima characterized the decision as "a souvenir" for Koizumi to give to President Bush when he visits the United States later this month, according to Kyodo News agency.

At stake was a trading relationship worth an estimated $1.4 billion a year to the U.S. beef industry.

After a two-year ban, American beef shipments to Japan resumed in December, but were halted again early this year after Japanese officials found backbone in a veal shipment, which Tokyo considers a risk for mad cow disease. The cuts are eaten in the United States and elsewhere, but Japan's rules are stricter.

The U.S. Agriculture Department says that New York-based Atlantic Veal & Lamb and a government inspector misunderstood the new trade rules when they allowed the prohibited veal shipment to leave for Japan.

Japan also has asked the United States to ban chicken and pig meat as well as bone meal from cattle feed, said Hiroshi Nakagawa, a safety director at the agriculture ministry. The United States already bans cow meat and bone meal from cattle feed under a 1997 regulation to protect against mad cow. All three are banned in Japan.

Only facilities whose safeguards meet Japanese standards will be authorized to export to Japan, the joint statement said. Japanese officials will be allowed to accompany their U.S. counterparts on spot inspections of the facilities, it added. The accord requires the U.S. side to conduct the spot inspections.

The inspections are meant to ensure that U.S. processing facilities conform with Japanese food safety guidelines, the statement said.