April 16, 2007

Japan, US to seek end on beef import row

Japan will attempt to settle the dispute over US beef imports before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flies to the United States in late April for a summit with US President George W. Bush, the Japanese farm minister said Friday.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka said discussions will be held with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab on US beef in the light of mad cow contamination.

Tokyo and Washington have been at odds over a US request that Japan soften conditions the two countries had agreed to in December 2005 in ending a two-year ban on North American beef imports.

But Matsuoka turned down the request and told the US trade minister the two nations should first confirm whether US cattle farmers and food processors are living up to the conditions.

Japan is asking US to meet two conditions: one is to limit beef imports from cattle aged up to 20 months as Washington has been asking Tokyo to authorise imports of beef from cattle aged up to 30 months.

The second is that US meat processors remove brain, spinal cords and other specific risk materials as those items could transmit the disease to consumers more easily than other cattle body parts due to the tendency of the disease's pathogen to accumulate in the risky parts.

The brain-wasting disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has shunned many people away from consuming North American beef.