March 10, 2008

Japanese officials block attempted smuggle of beef to China

Officials at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan have prevented a series of attempts by departing passengers to smuggle beef to China, where Japanese beef has been banned on mad cow scare.

The Japanese officials stopped attempts to export hundreds of kilogrammes of beef in February and early March.

The nearly smuggled beef were reportedly of premium brands such as Kobe beef.

In December, the China's government requested Tokyo to take measures to curb meat smuggling.

China has banned Japanese beef since a cow was found to be infected with mad cow disease in 2001.