TOKYO —Japan’s Food Safety Commission on Wednesday received approval from an expert committee that allows the government to ease restrictions on U.S. beef imports, paving the way for shippers to boost exports.
The 13-member committee on mad-cow disease concluded that easing restrictions on U.S. beef won’t increase human health risks, Nihon University professor Takeo Sakai, chairman of the committee, said Wednesday. The government asked the commission in December to assess the risks of relaxing regulations imposed to safeguard against bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Japan restricts U.S. beef imports to cattle 20 months old or younger as older animals are at higher risk of having the brain-wasting disease. The health ministry proposed raising the age limit to 30 months in December, widening opportunities for U.S. beef shippers. The regulation was put in place before Japan resumed purchases in 2005 of American beef, which had been banned since the first discovery of the disease in the U.S. in 2003. Japan had been the biggest buyer of U.S. beef.
