January 14, 2008

Japan lifts ban on beef imports from Cargill plant
 

Japan's agricultural ministry said on Friday (January 11, 2008) it has removed a ban, effective the same day, on beef imports from one of the plants of US agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. following a US government report on its violation of a bilateral beef trade agreement, the Kyodo news service reported.

The ban was imposed last October as more than 220 packages of frozen beef leg tendons from Cargill's plant in Dodge City, Kan., carried no safety certificates from the USDA on arrival at Kobe port the previous month, Kyodo reported.

Japan limits US beef imports to those from cattle aged 20 months or less due to mad cow disease concerns.

Japan's import conditions also include the removal of brains, spinal cords and other specific risk materials that could cause the disease.

The absence of safety certificates made it impossible to check whether the imports in question were from cattle clearing the age limit.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries decided to remove the ban as it recently received a detailed investigation report from the US department confirming that a warehousing agent for Cargill mistakenly included the packages in shipments to Japan although they were destined for elsewhere, Kyodo reported.

To prevent a recurrence of the mistake, the warehousing firm will attach a special card to packages bound for Japan, the ministry said in reference to information in the report.

The import ban was the fifth of its kind. Now that it has been lifted, no meatpacking plants in the US are subject to Japanese import prohibitions, Kyodo reported.