July 14, 2005

Japan to keep US beef import ban
 

Japan is not likely to ease its US beef import ban, the country's farm minister Yoshinobu Shimamura said on Jul 13.

The minister and US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johann had met at a two-day World Trade Organization meeting in Dalian, China, to talk about Japan's US beef ban, placed after the December 2003's mad cow disease in the US.

Shimamura said that the approval of the country's Food Safety Commission is needed for US beef imports to resume, but refused to set a timetable for lifting of the ban.

In 2003, Japan also placed a ban on Canadian beef after BSE struck Canada's cattle.