Swift plant disqualified from shipping beef to Japan

WASHINGTON (AP)--The U.S. Department of Agriculture has prohibited a Swift and Co. meatpacking plant in Nebraska from shipping beef to Japan.

The department said the plant's beef met all the rules for exporting to Japan. However, its procedures did not.

The plant chose cattle suppliers independent of its corporate headquarters, a violation of the export rules that turned up in routine audits this week, the department said.

Department spokesman Ed Loyd said the audits were unrelated to a prohibited veal shipment that arrived in Japan in January. That shipment originated in New York.

Japan suspended imports because the veal cuts contained backbone, which Asian countries consider at risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The cut of veal, hotel rack, is eaten in the United States.

Producers, feedlots and plants must be certified by the department's Agricultural Marketing Service to ship beef to Japan. Thirty-seven facilities remain certified for export to Japan, including three other Swift plants.

New certifications are on hold while U.S. officials work to resume shipments to Japan. Japan's government is waiting for the Agriculture Department to finish a report on what went wrong with the veal shipment.

Swift did not immediately return a telephone call. The company is one of the largest U.S. meatpackers. Swift operates 10 beef, pork and lamb plants in the U.S. and also has facilities in Australia.

Date: 2/21/06