Tokyo – Japan agreed today to ease the country’s ban on U.S. and Canadian beef imports, resolving a bitter trans-Pacific trade dispute two years after the first case of mad cow disease was discovered in a U.S. herd.
Meat from cows under 21 months old would be allowed back into the Japanese market, which before the ban had been the most lucrative overseas market for American beef. Japan bought $1.7 billion worth in 2003.
It was not immediately clear when U.S. meat would again appear in Japanese supermarkets and restaurants, but Kyodo News agency reported that North American meat could be back in Japan by year-end.
The decision was formally adopted today by Japan’s agriculture and health ministries, officials said. It follows a recommendation from the country’s Food Safety Commission last week to resume limited imports.
Surveys show Japanese are as leery as ever of U.S. beef and unwilling to buy it, while American ranchers say a series of new safety requirements imposed by Tok yo could keep many producers from tapping the market anyway.
The new rules would allow only meat from cows younger than 21 months, because no cases of mad cow disease have been found in cows that age. Besides requiring U.S. producers to certify the cow’s age, the new rules also demand that U.S. inspectors follow strict guidelines, such as removing dangerous material such as brains and spinal cords.
While the United States has had two cases of mad cow disease, Japan has reported 21 since its first in 2001.
Japan’s latest was confirmed over the weekend, when Japan’s agriculture ministry determined that a cow that died last week had the sickness, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Kyodo News agency reported.
