July 24, 2006

 

Japan seen opening to US beef soon

 

 

Japan could re-open its market to US beef as early as this month because no "insurmountable" problems were discovered by the Japanese during a four-week audit of US beef plants, a US government official said Friday (Jul 21).

 

Chuck Lambert, USDA Undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programmes, said in a telephone interview that some of the concerns raised by the visiting Japanese auditors are "significant," but could be overcome.

 

Lambert and Undersecretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond have been meeting with the Japanese auditors all day Friday in Omaha, Nebraska, before the visiting delegation returns to Tokyo this weekend.

 

USDA Minister-Counsellor for Agriculture Affairs in Tokyo Daniel Berman said Friday that the three auditing teams will present reports of their findings to the Japanese agriculture and health departments when they return.

 

Berman, who is based in Tokyo, talked to Dow Jones Newswires on Friday while he is visiting Washington.

 

The result of the Friday meeting, Berman said, will be important because it is the first time the three Japanese audit teams have been able to compare notes on each other's findings. The completed audits, he said, are the last major step in the process before Japan can begin buying US beef again.

 

Lambert, speaking about the Omaha meeting with the Japanese auditors, said: "We view this as our last chance to make sure that they understand what they've seen. We want their report to reflect our system as accurately as possible. Obviously, the endgame here is to get product moving--to get their report accepted ... so we're doing everything we can for that objective."

 

And that, Lambert said, should not take too long.

 

"It could still happen before the end of the month."

 

Japan stopped importing US beef in January because a shipment contained prohibited material. That trade halt came about a month after Japan had eased a two-year ban on US beef. That original ban was put on the US beef in response to the first discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in the US.

 

The US has agreed to ship to Japan only beef from cattle slaughtered before they turned 21 months old and after all material the Japanese believe to be risky for BSE infection has been removed.