Meatingplace.com | By Joshua Lipsky | June 6, 2003
Japan's agriculture minister has asked the United States to take steps to ensure the safety of its meat exports after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease was found in Canada. Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei made the request during a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker, the ministry said in a statement. Kamei told Baker that it was "impossible to exclude the possibility that beef of Canadian origin could be imported in Japan via the United States" and "strongly requested" that the United States act to ensure that only safe meat is exported to Japan, the statement said.
The Japanese minister suggested several measures based on Japan's own experience containing an outbreak of BSE in 2001 (see Japan logs third case of BSE, Daily News, Dec. 3, 2001) including screening all cattle destined for slaughter for the disease.
Baker promised to inform U.S. agricultural authorities of the request. Japan, which banned beef imports from Canada last month, bought $842 million of American beef in 2002 and accounted for 32 percent of the total value of U.S. beef exports, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.Meatingplace.com:
