January 19, 2005

US, Japan to Discuss Age-testing for Beef Imports

Japanese and U.S. officials were to meet today to consider a U.S. proposal on judging the age of cattle that may clear the way for resumed U.S. beef trade.

Officials from the U.S. Agricultural Department planned to explain their proposal to food safety officials of Japan's agriculture and health ministries in Tokyo, according to a press release posted on the agricultural ministry's Web site.

Japan has so far showed an openness to the US proposal, and any confirmed acceptance would re-open doors for U.S. meat producers into the Japanese market, said Masahiko Ariji, an agriculture analyst at the UFJ General Research Institute. Japan banned U.S. beef imports in December 2003, when a case of mad cow disease was found in Washington state.

"The U.S. must have put together a very scientific and convincing proposal to Japan,'' Ariji said in a Bloomberg TV interview. "Japan's acceptance today may lead to the resumption of beef trade by the end of June.''

Japan bought $1.7 billion worth of U.S. beef in 2003 before the ban. Japan's government said in October it would restart imports of U.S. beef from cattle aged 20 months and younger if the age can be confirmed.

Talks will focus on whether suppliers can accurately test for the age of cattle by examining the color and quality of meat and bones, said Makoto Kanie, a health ministry official.

Mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has been linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a brain-wasting disease blamed for 148 deaths in the U.K.