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U.S., Japan nearing beef agreement
WASHINGTON (AP)--In a break from its steadfast ban on U.S. beef because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Japan is moving toward allowing a resumption of imports if American officials can guarantee the beef is from cattle no older than 20 months at slaughter.
American beef industry officials expect President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to discuss the Japanese ban Sept. 21 when both leaders are in New York for the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting. A similar report was made earlier by Kyodo News.
A Japanese food safety panel opened the way for a shift in government policy earlier this month. It said BSE tests on animals younger than 20 months could be eliminated without raising the risk of giving people a related rare but fatal disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
U.S. agriculture officials refused to predict where the change in Japanese policy might lead, but beef industry leaders said they consider it a step toward reopening the Japanese market to exports from the U.S.
"Hopefully, we will end up at a point where we offer something we can verify, and they accept something that is equivalent to their system," said Lynn Heinze, a spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, a Denver-based trade group.
There are hurdles to be cleared before the U.S. again can ship meat to its former top-dollar export customer.
Japan had led the world in U.S. beef purchases, at $1.2 billion, before the discovery in December 2003 of BSE in a Holstein cow in Washington state. Japan had accounted for 37 percent of the total value of U.S. beef exports, said Dave Weaber, director of research at Cattle-Fax, a research and market analysis firm.
Upon discovery of the first U.S. case of BSE, Tokyo cut off U.S. exports and demanded that every American head of cattle destined for Japanese consumption be tested for the disease. Japan has used that standard for its domestic slaughter and since 2001 has confirmed 12 cases of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE.
U.S. officials have balked at blanket testing of all cattle, saying it's too expensive and unnecessary. In addition, they say the tests are reliable only on cattle 30 months old or older. Japan, however, has reported finding BSE in two younger animals--one 21 months old and the other 23 months old.
Most U.S.-fed cattle are slaughtered before they reach 21 months, according to industry officials. They acknowledge that for exports to Japan to resume, the two governments would have to agree on measures to assure that beef bound for Japan is from cattle no older than 20 months.
Date: 9/22/04
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