August 15, 2006

Japan to add another US meatpacker to export beef

One more US meatpacker would be added to the list of meat-processing facilities authorised to export beef to Japan Tuesday (Aug 15), sources said.

With the addition of National Beef Packing Co, a total of 35 facilities would be authorised to export US beef to Japan.

National Beef Packing earlier failed to gain permission to export beef to Japan as it was integrating two manuals for meat-processing procedures after a merger.

Japanese authorities plan to continue joining US authorities on surprise inspections to all 35 facilities to prevent problems with imports of US beef.

Japan lifted its all-out ban on US beef imports on Jul 27, with the first shipments arriving on Aug 7.