December 23, 2005

Canadian beef arrives in Japan for first time since 2003

Canadian beef arrived in Japan for the first time since May 2003 when it was banned due to mad cow disease, or BSE.

About 3.4 tonnes of beef left Cargill Foods' plant in High River, Alberta, and arrived in Japan recently.

As with the US, Canadian beef imports to Japan were resumed on the condition that the meat came from cattle under 21 months of age. This is because BSE has not been detected so far in animals that young.

Another Cargill plant Better Beef in Guelph, Ontario, is set to ship 1.8 tonnes of beef over the weekend to Japan.