May 16, 2005

 

Beef checks in Japan confusing

 

 

Japanese consumers may become confused by the double standards in checking beef for the brain-crippling bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease.

 

The confusion may be caused by the Japanese government's conflicting decisions this month to exempt cattle 20 months or younger slaughtered in the United States from BSE screening, while local governments intend to continue checking all slaughtered cattle.

 

"There will be a twisted form of imports of US-produced beef without screening and continued screening of domestically produced beef. That only invites confusion among consumers," said Hiroko Mizuhara, secretary general of the Consumers' Union of Japan, which has insisted on screening all slaughtered cattle.

 

While the state is going to ease screening regulations, it is going to bear all costs for local governments to continue checking cattle. "This is clear proof that there remains uncertainty in the government," Mizuhara said.

 

Japan began screening every cow from October 2001, a month after it found its first mad cow case in Shirai, Chiba Prefecture. The country stopped importing US beef in December 2003 when a Canadian-born cow was found infected with BSE in the state of Washington.

 

But in October 2004, Prime Minister Shinichiro Koizumi's cabinet said it would lift the import ban on US beef by exempting cattle 20 months or younger from BSE screening, while the Cabinet Office's Food Safety Commission endorsed the eased regulations on May 6.

 

Due to the first domestic BSE case, beef consumption has dropped some 40 percent.

 

Initially, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare planned to set the BSE screening target only for cattle 30 months or older with due consideration to standards in European countries, but it has changed its policy to screen all slaughtered cattle.

 

Ministry sources said the ministry had to change its mind as some Diet members well versed in agriculture bitterly reacted to its original policy, saying the people will panic if screened and unscreened meats are placed on the same counters. But such situation has become inevitable with the "double standards."

 

As a reason for the continued screening of every cow, a Hokkaido prefectural government official said, "The reason is strong unrest among consumers," while a Kagoshima prefectural government official said, "There were strong calls among producers and consumers for removal of unrest."

 

The subsidy from the state to local governments for checking every cow slaughtered was a desperate measure to get approval from ruling parties. Lawmakers from Hokkaido and other agricultural areas had called on the government to never ease regulations in consideration of the United States.