U.S., Japanese officials hold 2nd day of talks over U.S. beef

TOKYO (AP)--Japanese and U.S. officials held talks May 18 on a survey of the U.S. meatpacking industry, as Washington seeks to reopen the Japanese market to U.S. beef imports.

Chuck Lambert, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, and a team of agriculture officials resumed their meetings with officials from Japan's foreign, health and agriculture ministries.

The discussions were expected to touch on the shipments of banned beef parts from U.S. plants to Hong Kong and Taiwan, Kyodo News agency said, without identifying its sources.

Mamoru Ishihara, Japan's vice minister for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said Tokyo would take a cautious approach.

"This is a matter of food safety and reassurance for consumers. We have to tackle challenges step by step to win consumer confidence," Ishihara was quoted as saying by Kyodo. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was quoted as saying Japan would reopen the market if the government's preconditions were met.

Both sides planned to meet again May 19, Kyodo said.

On May 17, the United States presented a report detailing recent compliance checks carried out at U.S. meatpacking facilities, according to Agriculture Ministry official Hirofumi Kugita.

Kugita said he could not elaborate further on talks in progress, but Kyodo quoted an unnamed official as saying Japan believes the two countries can talk about future steps to restart beef trade based on the report.

Tokyo has said that before starting talks on reopening its market to U.S. beef it wants first to review the survey results and get answers to questions about the 37 meatpacking plants authorized to ship to Japan.

Media reports have said Tokyo wants to lift the ban on U.S. beef imports by the time Koizumi visits the United States in June. However, a government spokesman said May 17 the decision would be based on whether public safety had been assured, rather than political considerations.

Japan initially shut its profitable market for U.S. beef in December 2003 after the first discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United States. The ban was eased in December 2005 to allow the import of meat from cows 20 months old or younger.

But in January, Japanese customs officials found spine bones--which Tokyo considers at risk for the disease--in a shipment of American veal, and the market was closed again.

Since then, the U.S. conducted an investigation into the faulty shipment and submitted a report to Japanese authorities. Tokyo, however, had additional questions it wants answered before reopening the market.

Japan was once the most lucrative overseas market for U.S. beef, buying some $1.4 billion in 2003.

Date: 5/24/06

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