Tokyo – Just 5 1/2 weeks after lifting its ban on U.S. beef, Japan slammed the door shut again Friday, saying a recent shipment contained material it considered at risk for mad cow disease.
“This is a pity given that imports had just resumed,” Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters. “I received the agriculture minister’s report over the telephone with his recommendation that the imports be halted and I think it is a good idea.”
The Japanese government plans to halt the imports until it receives a report from the U.S. government on how the risky material got into the shipment, an Agriculture Ministry statement said.
The statement said ministry inspectors found material from cattle backbone in three out of 41 boxes in a 858-pound shipment of beef from Atlantic Veal & Lamb Inc. All of the beef in the shipment was destroyed, the statement said.
In Washington, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the U.S. government is investigating the shipment and investigators are being dispatched to Japan.
He also said the plant that exported the meat in question is now barred from shipping more beef to Japan and the government inspector who cleared the shipment may be disciplined.
Extra inspectors are also being sent to every plant that exports meat to Japan and unannounced inspections have been ordered, Johanns said.
“We take this matter very seriously,” the secretary said in a statement. “We are in communication with Japanese officials and we will continue that dialogue to assure them that we take this matter very seriously and we are acting swiftly and firmly.”
“Clearly this is a setback” in re-establishing beef exports to Japan, said Terry Stokes, chief executive of the Centennial-based National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “But it’s an isolated case and it’s important to note that it was technical violation, not a food-safety violation.”
Both of Colorado’s U.S. senators called the violation unfortunate and said they will work toward swiftly resuming beef exports to Japan.
“Hopefully, quick action by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will prevent another ban from becoming reality,” said Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.
“I am pleased that USDA has reacted quickly to this,” said Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.
Colorado is the nation’s fourth-largest beef producer. The state’s beef industry is estimated to have lost $160 million over the past two years from the earlier Japanese import ban.
Japan, the most lucrative overseas market for U.S. beef, originally had imposed the ban in December 2003 after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S.
Less than six weeks ago, it agreed to allow a resumption of imports, but only from cows aged 20 months or younger, which are believed unlikely to have the disease. The deal also excluded spines, brains, bone marrow and other parts of cattle thought to be at high risk of containing the disease.
Koizumi said he directed Japan’s agriculture and health ministers to talk with the U.S. side to put measures into place that would guarantee the safety of beef sent to Japan.
Before the ban that ended last December, the Japanese market for American beef was worth some $1.4 billion in 2003.
Staff writer Steve Raabe contributed to this report.
