February 13, 2004

Japan To Ask US To Lift Beef Import Ban

Japan plans to ask the United States to lift its import ban on Japanese beef, which Tokyo believes is the safest in the world because of blanket testing of all cattle slaughtered for beef, government sources revealed.

The proposal may be made when a senior official of the U.S. Department of Agriculture visits Japan next week in a bid to seek the removal of the Japanese import ban on U.S. beef imposed after the U.S. announced in late December that its first case of mad cow disease had been found in the state of Washington, the sources said.

The U.S. has banned imports of Japanese beef since the outbreak of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as BSE, in Japan in autumn 2001.

Washington has maintained the import ban because Japan hasn't asked for its removal, according to U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture J.B. Penn.

Japan as a country with a BSE outbreak record "has found it difficult to urge the U.S." to lift the ban on Japanese beef imports, an official in the Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry told the news agency.

But now that the disease has occurred in the U.S. as well, Japan is in a better position to ask for the removal of U.S. ban on the grounds that Japanese beef is "the safest beef in the world as Japan tests all cattle" for BSE, said an aide to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

While bilateral negotiations on Japan's import ban on U.S. beef have so far focused on U.S. requests for its removal, the planned proposal is expected to create an opportunity for the two governments to jointly consider ways of enhancing the safety of beef, the sources said.