April 24, 2007
US to allow beef plant inspections by Japan
The United States will allow Japan to conduct inspections of US beef plants in an effort to increase beef trade on Japanese markets, the Agriculture Department said Monday (April 23).
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in a statement that auditing of processing plants will start immediately and the completion of the verification process will prompt Japan to discontinue requirement of inspecting 100 percent of the boxes of beef shipped from US plants.
A Japanese agriculture ministry official said on Tuesday that Japan wants to begin the inspections as soon as possible.
The announcement comes days ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first official visit to Washington and is due to meet President George Bush this week to discuss issues, including beef trade.
Japan is accepting imports of US beef from animals aged 20 months or younger, but US exporters want to see meat allowed from cattle up to 30 months old. They also complain about the high costs of inspections for every box of imported meat.
Johanns said they expect Japan and to its trading partners to "implement import requirements for US beef and beef products as soon as possible based on science and consistent with international guidelines".
US officials hope that an expected "controlled risk" ruling expected next month from the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) would loosen strict rules.
Between November and December last year, Japan conducted inspections at several US plants and has approved 35 American meatpackers.
However, Japan suspended imports from two meatpackers after the plants exported cargoes without the necessary documentation this year, the Japanese official said.
Washington is pressing Tokyo to relax the age rule, which has limited the supply of eligible beef exports to Japan, a top export market for the US meat before Tokyo imposed a ban on shipments in December 2003.
Japan purchased US$1.4 billion-worth of beef in 2003.
