April 25, 2008

US's National Beef plant banned from shipping beef to Japan

The USDA announced Thursday (April 24, 2008) it has delisted a California beef plant from shipping beef to Japan after the company shipped banned items. 

The National Beef plant in Brawley, Calif., is "ineligible for export (to Japan) effective on and after April 23, 2008," the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service said in a document published Thursday ( April 24, 2008).

However, there is a likelihood the plant may regain its export status soon. The USDA relisted the Cargill Meat Solutions plant in Dodge City, Kan., and the Smithfield Beef Group in Tolleson, Ariz., this year after the companies' plants were similarly delisted.

National Beef recently shipped a product containing vertebral column to Japan. The item is banned in Japan for fear of mad cow disease.

USDA spokesman Keith Williams said the shipment was nothing more than a loading mistake in the US.

Japan banned U.S. beef in December 2003 after the first case of mad-cow was found here.