April 20, 2006

US must regain Japan's public trust in US beef trade

Japan said Wednesday (Apr 19) the trust of Japanese consumers must first be regained before it can look into the US call to raise the age limit on cattle eligible for beef imports to 30 months from the currently agreed upon 20 months, the Kyodo News Service reported.

"The issue of regaining public trust on the import scheme must be settled first, and it is not appropriate to review the import scheme at a time imports have not been resumed," the Japanese government said in a report submitted to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) in reaction to its annual trade report released Mar 31, the news service said.

In the 2006 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, the USTR pledged to press Japan to reopen its beef market "as soon as possible" and to expand the age limit on cattle eligible for imports to 30 months from 20 months, Kyodo said.

Japan reimposed its ban on US beef imports after a spinal column was found in a US veal shipment at Narita airport in January despite a bilateral agreement banning the material to safeguard against mad cow disease, Kyodo said.

The incident came only a month after Tokyo had lifted its two-year-old ban on US beef imports on the condition that they would be limited to meat from cattle aged up to 20 months with specified risk materials removed prior to shipping, according to the Kyodo report.