U.S. answers Japan via e-mail
Untitled
Message responds to Japan beef shipment questions
TOKYO (AP)--The United States has sent an e-mail answering Japan's questions about a shipment of banned beef parts to Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported March 19.
Japan sent the questions after the Bush administration finalized a report saying plant workers and government inspectors misunderstood new trade rules when they shipped the prohibited veal to Japan. Both sides are discussing the matter in an effort to resume U.S. beef shipments to Japan.
The message was received March 18, but officials at Japan's agriculture ministry have not disclosed its contents because they are still assessing the response, Kyodo said, citing unidentified ministry officials.
Officials at the ministry were unavailable for comment late March 19.
Japan suspended imports Jan. 20 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.
Japan banned American beef after the United States confirmed its first case of BSE in December 2003, and had only recently reopened its market.
The shipment from Atlantic Veal & Lamb of Brooklyn violated trade rules with Japan, but U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said "the veal posed absolutely no risk to human health; there was no danger there."
Johanns blamed the mistakes on the newness of the export rules. The plant and its supplier, Ohio-based Golden Veal Corp., were certified to ship to Japan Jan. 6 and were the first two companies allowed to send veal to Japan.
Among the follow-up questions was whether there are any problems about the U.S. government's certification of beef processing facilities, and whether similar mistakes might occur in other U.S. facilities certified to export to Japan, Kyodo reported.
Of the $3.9 billion in global sales of U.S. beef in 2003, Japan, once the biggest U.S. customer of the meat, accounted for $1.4 billion.
Date: 3/23/06
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