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Report says Japan to consider easing restrictions on U.S. beef
TOKYO (AP)--Japan will consider easing restrictions on U.S. beef imports, in an apparent compromise after months of pressure from Washington to do so, according to a news report Dec. 7. Agriculture Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi offered new concessions following the latest round of talks between Japanese and U.S. farm officials earlier Dec. 7 over Tokyo's restrictions on American beef, Kyodo News agency said. Japan banned American beef imports over bovine spongiform encephalopathy fears more than three years ago, but has eased that restriction to allow imported meat from young cattle aged 20 months or younger, on conditions certain bones and the spinal cord have been removed and the meat has been processed at selected plants. Washington has demanded Tokyo scrap all age restrictions. "We will consider 30 months, a standard used by many countries," Wakabayashi said, according to Kyodo. Agriculture Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment late Dec. 7. Earlier Dec. 7, a senior U.S. farm official said Japan had indicated it could ease restrictions on American beef imports, but Washington wants Japan to remove all restrictions, Kyodo said. After talks with Japanese agricultural officials, U.S. Undersecretary for Agriculture Mark Keenum told reporters that the Japanese side had indicated that they could consider allowing imports of meat from cattle aged 30 months or younger, Kyodo said. Japanese officials earlier denied making any concessions during the talks, saying their safety standard was unchanged. Japan banned American beef imports in December 2003 after the first case of BSE was found in the U.S. The ban was eased in July 2006. But many Japanese consumers have remained wary of the safety of American beef, following repeated mishandling and shipment of banned parts over the past few years. Japan's imports of U.S. beef has since dwindled at a fraction of the levels before the first ban, prompting Washington's frustration. Japan used to be the largest consumer of American beef. Eating meat products with infected tissue is linked to a rare, fatal illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, that has killed more than 150 people worldwide, most of them in Britain. Date: 12/11/07
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