Japanese govt set to approve US beef imports
The Japanese government will officially approve the resumption of US beef imports from selected meat processing plants tomorrow, a news report said today.
The report came after Japanese officials briefed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on a plan to conditionally resume US beef imports. The party accepted the plan, and the government is set to officially approve it tomorrow, Kyodo News agency reported.
Kyodo did not say how it got the information. The LDP said officials in charge were still at the meeting and could not comment.
Japan banned US beef earlier this year amid concerns about mad cow disease, but agreed in principle to resume imports last month on the condition that Japanese inspectors found no problems at US plants.
Japanese inspectors recently returned from a month-long tour of 35 US meat-processing facilities to find out if they meet Japanese guidelines.
Yesterday, Japan’s largest daily Yomiuri reported that the inspectors found problems “at one or two facilities,” citing unidentified Health Ministry officials.
An LDP official said government agencies nonetheless proposed lifting the import ban, while barring products from some of the 35 facilities. The official did not elaborate on details of the plan.
Kyodo News agency reported today that the government plan recommended that just one facility be excluded from those whose products will be allowed into Japan.
Japan lifted an earlier ban on US beef late last year, but re-imposed it in January after inspectors found a shipment containing banned animal parts.
Tokyo has faced growing pressure from Washington to reopen its beef market.
Japan was a huge consumer of US beef before 2003, when it imposed an import ban over concerns about possible mad cow disease – formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE – among US cattle.
In humans, eating meat contaminated with BSE is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and deadly nerve disease.
