August 5, 2004

Japan's Food Safety Commission To Meet On BSE, US Beef Friday

Japan's Food Safety Commission is scheduled to hold a meeting Friday to discuss the safety of U.S. beef and the adequacy of U.S. safeguards against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, a Japanese government official said Wednesday.
 
Shin Yokoyama, the agriculture counselor at Japan's embassy here, said commission members will be discussing the results of recent bilateral technical exchanges made between the two countries through a joint working group.
 
The U.S.-Japan working group released a report in July after its third and final meeting. The first U.S.-Japan round of technical talks was held in Tokyo May 18-19, and the second round was held in the U.S. in late June.
 
Yokoyama said the Food Safety Commission meeting scheduled for Friday has already been delayed once.
 
J.B. Penn, USDA's undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services, has said Japan's Food Safety Commission will play a key role in deciding if and how Japan will be able to lift its ban on U.S. beef.
 
Japan, which is traditionally the largest foreign market for U.S. beef, banned it in December after the USDA announced the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease.
 
The U.S. exported 352,448 metric tons of beef to Japan in 2003, worth about $1.3 billion, according to USDA data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
 
Penn said earlier this summer he plans to lead a high-level U.S. delegation to Tokyo in August, but no date has been set yet for that trip, Japanese and U.S. officials said Tuesday.
 
One USDA official said a date for Penn's trip to Japan will not likely be set until Japan's Food Safety Commission finishes deliberations over the information collected by the U.S.-Japan working group.
 
A meat industry representative here said U.S. exporters are expecting Japan's Food Safety Commission to release a report Friday after it meets.