August 9, 2008

Japan halts Cargill beef over missing food safety certificate

Japan has suspended beef imports from one of Cargill Inc.'s plant after discovering a shipment without a proper food safety certificate, according to officials on Friday (August 8, 2008).

The plant in question is Cargill's plant in Dodge City, Kansas, and the Japanese Agriculture Ministry has asked the US Embassy in Tokyo to investigate the case.

Japanese importer Nippon Meat Packers had found a piece of 9.9-pound ground beef that was not properly identified on papers issued by the USDA. The meat arrived as part of a 3.8-tonne (4.2 US tonne) of frozen beef shoulder in July.

Nippon has not reported any other irregularities amid ongoing investigation for the rest of the shipment, and it is not known if the ground beef was packed by mistake, the ministry said.