April 16, 2004

Japan Consider Easing Mad Cow Restrictions

Japan's Food Safety Commission will reassess its stance of requiring each head of cattle to be tested for mad-cow disease in light of criticism of the policy as inefficient and unscientific, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Friday.
 
Such a policy shift could pave the way to lifting the U.S. beef import ban, which was imposed at the end of last year after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was discovered there.
 
The commission's review is expected to draw opposition from lawmakers and domestic farming interests. Consumer protection entities strongly favor the comprehensive tests.
 
The commission will convene a research committee meeting April 22 to begin the review, which will focus on a proposal to limit inspections to cattle 20 months and older.
 
But even if Japan relaxes inspection standards, U.S. beef imports are not expected to resume immediately. While the U.S. plans to expand inspections in June to cover cows older than 30 months that have difficulty walking, a gap would still remain between this and the Japanese threshold for testing.
 
On Thursday, the panel invited Yoshihiro Ozawa, honorary adviser to the World Organization for Animal Health, to address the BSE inspection issue.
 
"Many infected cows could slip through the inspections, given the limits to sensitivity" of comprehensive testing, Ozawa said.
 
"The most important step is to remove the prion-rich specified risk material, such as the head and intestines," he said, referring to the proteins believed to cause the brain-wasting disease.
 
Japan adopted comprehensive BSE inspections in 2001 in the wake of sharp declines in beef sales caused by the country's first case. But the decision to implement the standard was based more on political considerations than a scientific determination, according to a senior official at the Health Ministry.
 
Domestic farmers had urged the government to put a food safety policy in place. The Liberal Democratic Party and others worked to implement the current rules to shield cattle operations from the negative impact of rumors.
 
The political calendars in both countries may also affect the timing for resuming the imports. The U.S. seeks to have the ban lifted as far ahead of the November presidential election as possible.
 
But the hands of the LDP and the Agriculture Ministry will likely be tied leading up to the Upper House election in July. As a result, imports of U.S. beef are seen resuming between the summer and early fall, after Japan's Upper House election and before the U.S. presidential vote.