May 3, 2007
Japan to resume beef exports to Hong Kong
Hong Kong will re-allow beef exports from Japan beginning May 14 after more than a five-year ban due to mad cow disease.
Japanese beef exporters JA Zen-Noh Meat Foods Co and Itoham Foods Inc will make the initial shipments of 1 tonne beef to the Chinese territory following an agreement in April which was reached between the two countries.
The shipments came from high-quality black cattle raised in Kumamoto, Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures on the island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan.
The beef, which will hit restaurants and department stores in Hong Kong, will retail for around 30,000 yen per kilogramme, a JA Zen-Noh official said.
The first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in September 2001 found in Japanese cattle has prompted Hong Kong to ban its beef exports. It was lifted on condition that Japan will limit its exports to meat from cattle aged up to 30 months and remove brain, spinal cord and other specified risk materials.
Hong Kong was the biggest destination for Japan's beef exports in 2000 when shipments came to 60 tonnes.