July 17, 2006

Japan on schedule to complete audit of US beef plants

Japan is still on schedule to wrap up its audits of US beef producers next week and, afterwards, it should not take long for US exports to begin again, Japanese and US government officials said Friday (Jul 14).

The officials, who asked not to be named, would not make precise predictions on when Japan would resume imports, but they agreed it would take less than two weeks after Japan finishes the audits, barring any unforeseen "major complications".

The US Department of Agriculture confirmed Friday that Japan discovered a package of beef in a shipment of other meat products, but a Japanese government official said that is not seen as a "big deal" by Japan.

A US government official agreed, saying Japan is "handling it in a low-key manner".

Japan ended a two-year complete ban on US beef in December, but reinstated the ban in January after a shipment was discovered with prohibited material.

The original two-year ban was put on US beef in reaction to the first discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in the US Japan reinstated the ban after a single shipment was found to contain vertebral column--prohibited material under specifications demanded by Japan.