April 2, 2007

USDA wants Japan to ease restrictions on its beef imports
 

US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has urged Japan should promptly ease its restrictions on US beef imports as the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) officially has declared the United States a "controlled risk" region for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

The official declaration will be proclaimed in May during OIE's general meeting in May in Paris.

The designation theoretically paves the way for US processors to export beef from cattle of any age.

But the declaration doesn't mean Japan will waiver from accepting only US beef from cattle younger than 21 months of age, a provision Tokyo established in July 2006. Like South Korea, which has rejected all shipments of US beef for containing banned bone chips since it theoretically reopened its market to US beef last fall, Japan thus far appears unmoved by the "controlled" classification.