December 19, 2006

Japan bans entry of one box of US beef

The Japanese government refused to allow a box of US beef Monday, Dec 18 as the beef was found to have been processed in a US meat-packing plant the day before the plant was certified as a supplier of Japan-bound beef.

The 13 kilogrammes of short plates were among the 910 tonnes of frozen American beef that had already arrived in Japan when Tokyo imposed a ban on US beef over looming fears of mad cow disease in January. It has since remained at Japanese harbours and other areas.

According to the two ministries, the particular beef were processed at a Utah plant of US beef processing firm Swift & Company on Dec 13 last year, the day before the plant obtained approval for shipping beef to Japan.