May 28, 2012

Japan removes ban on JBS Swift's beef imports

The ban imposed last December on beef imports from US meat processor JBS Swift & Co. over mad cow disease concerns, has been lifted by the Japanese government on Friday (May 25), farm and health ministry officials said.

The ban came as frozen beef imports from the firm's Grand Island plant in Nebraska contained spinal columns that are classified as risk materials feared to cause the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and barred from importation into Japan.

Later investigations found that when beef containing spinal columns for domestic distribution in the US was transferred from one box to another, a worker erroneously labelled the other box as bound for Japan, the officials said.

As the plant has decided to prevent such cases by refraining from exporting to Japan any product transferred from one box to another, the Japanese government has chosen to lift the ban, they said.