Results of investigation on veal shipment are sent to Japan

By Doug Rich

Japan is not accepting any beef from the U.S. but it is accepting reports on the latest situation that caused them to close their border to U.S. beef imports.

Early on Friday morning Feb. 17, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns released the results of an investigation into the ineligible shipment of veal that was sent to Japan on Jan. 20. The report sent to Japan via secure FAX transmission contained two documents: The results of an investigation by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and an audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Together these documents contained eleven findings, five from the FSIS investigation and six from the OIG audit.

"The thoroughness of this report demonstrates just how serious we are about addressing this incident and providing assurance to our trading partners that our system is among the best in the world," said Johanns. "I believe our action fully addresses the facts that led to this incident and provide added protections on a broader scale to prevent similar problems in the future."

The 475 page report includes several actions that USDA will take in addition to the actions that were announced on Jan. 20. According to a USDA news release these actions include:

--All FSIS inspectors who work in plants that are certified to export beef are undergoing additional mandatory training to ensure they fully understand U.S. export agreements.

--USDA will require plants to maintain a list of specific products they are certified to ship to any country, instead of a blanket export certification and that list will be kept readily available to USDA inspectors.

--USDA inspectors in the plants will be notified of changes to a plant's eligibility to export at three separate times in the certification process: When the plant applies for certification, when the plant is audited and when a plant is certified or delisted.

--Final export certification cannot be completed until in-plant inspectors have undergone additional training, ensuring coordination between the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and FSIS. AMS handles export certification not FSIS.

--Initiating with the resumption of exports to Japan, USDA will require a second signature on every shipment of beef for export unless a trading partner indicates a second signature is not necessary for U.S. exports to that country.

According to the report mistakes were made by the plants involved with the shipment and by USDA inspection personnel. Those mistakes were the results of a misunderstanding of which products were eligible for shipment to Japan.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer, said that under the terms of the agreement between the U.S. and Japan, meat cuts like veal chops, T-bone steaks, and Porterhouse steaks would be banned from export to Japan because the bone would be left in. When the bones are removed the meat is eligible for export to Japan.

"Leaving the bone in and not the meat itself was what made this shipment a violation of the agreement guidelines," said Ambassador Schieffer.

Johanns said in his press conference that this misunderstanding may have stemmed from the fact that veal had only recently been added to the export agreement with Japan.

"The newness of the program contributed to the uniqueness of the incident," Johanns said.

The report shows that the product was clearly labeled as a hotel rack of veal. Johanns said this indicates that the vertebral column is there. "This was not a situation where somebody was trying to put something on the bottom of the box and not label it," said Johanns. "This would indicate that there was not an understanding. They were just not connecting as to what could be shipped into that market."

Sen. Chuck Grassley from Iowa, said news of the report was bittersweet. "We're fortunate that this was an isolated incident and can easily be corrected," Sen. Grassley said. "It is important to remember that the violation was a technical one and it did not result in any health risks. The lack of understanding of the rules by government inspectors is unacceptable. The actions by these inspectors have put jobs across the country at risk."

Only two plants were certified to ship veal to Japan and this was the only shipment of veal to that country. Both of these plants were delisted before any more shipments were sent to Japan.

"The personnel at both plants should have known they were not certified to send this shipment due to both veal offal and the presence of the vertebral column," said Johanns. "And our USDA Food Safety Inspectors should also have identified these products as ineligible to be shipped to Japan. Inspectors who work at certified plants, will be receiving additional mandatory training to make sure they fully understand the export agreements."

The name of the plant that sent the shipment of veal is the Atlantic Veal and lamb. The plant was certified to ship veal to Japan on Jan. 6, and its supplier Golden Veal was certified for export on the same day.

Now that the report is completed and has been delivered to authorities in Japan everyone is wondering when the market will reopen. The National Cattlemen Beef Association (NCBA) is hopeful the Japanese government will decide to open the market very soon.

"American beef industry worked hard to re-open this valuable market so our cattlemen could once again provide Japanese consumers with safe, quality U.S. beef products and we were disappointed when Japan reinstated its ban on U.S. beef," said Jay Truitt, vice president of government affairs for NCBA.

"As indicated in the USDA report, the ineligible veal shipment never represented a food safety concern, but rather a technical violation resulting from human error," Truitt said. "The world's leading scientists, medical professional and government official agree that BSE is not a public health risk in the U.S., and there simply is no science-based reason for a continued ban on U.S. beef products."

No one knows for sure when beef exports will be allowed back into Japan, including Secretary Johanns. "I don't have any real insight as to the date that the market will open," he said.

"After the report is reviewed I am confident the Japanese government will want to make recommendations, requirements on what needs to happen for beef trade to resume or for plants to be listed," said Johanns. "We will work with the Japanese government. We will work with Japan to try to decide the process for normal resumption of beef trade with Japan under the agreement that we reached."

Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at Richhpj@aol.com

Date: 2/22/06