January 12, 2004

Japan, Canada To Hold Mad Cow Talks Next Week

Japanese and Canadian farm ministers will hold talks in Tokyo next week on mad cow disease, following the confirmation that the recent U.S. case involved a cow born in Canada, Japanese officials said Friday.

Canada proposed the meeting between Japanese Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei and his Canadian counterpart, Bob Speller, said agriculture ministry official Ryosuke Ogawa.

Japan, the largest importer of U.S. beef, halted its imports from the U.S. last month, immediately after a Holstein cow in Washington state was found to be infected with mad cow disease, also called bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

More than 30 other countries followed suit. The animal, born in western

Canada in 1997, was slaughtered in Washington on Dec. 9.

Japan has also halted beef imports from Canada since last May, when a case of mad cow disease was found in that country. Ogawa said Japan has not lifted a ban on Canadian beef because Tokyo believes Canadas safety procedures have improved little since, despite the countrys repeated requests for imports to resume.

Speller announced Thursday that testing for mad cow disease would be increased to about 8,000 cattle a year, from the current 5,500, to restore confidence in Canadian beef. But he said it is not scientifically necessary to test every cow destined for slaughter, as is done in Japan.

Japan requires all domestic cows to be tested for the disease before going to market and has urged Canada and the U.S. to tighten their test procedures.

The Asahi, a nationwide newspaper, reported Friday that the Japanese government would continue to press the U.S. to test every cow before sending it to market as a minimum condition for Japan to lift the U.S beef import ban.

A Japanese fact-finding mission left Thursday for the U.S. and Canada.