December 19, 2005

 

First US beef arrives in Japan after two years

 

 

Customs and quarantine officials in Japan Sunday inspected the first beef shipment from the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) since the easing of an import ban imposed two years ago because of the first US case of mad-cow disease, officials said.

The consignment is destined for a luncheon in Tokyo Wednesday hosted by USMEF's president, Philip Seng, and to be attended by Japanese and US officials, according to Tatsuhiko Sato, a spokesman for the group.

 

Quarantine officials inspected about 100 kilogrammes of beef when it arrived Sunday afternoon, said Masahiro Suetsugu, a quarantine official at Narita International Airport in Tokyo.

 

Shinobu Shimada, an official of the federation, confirmed the beef cleared customs.

 

The shipment consisted of tenderloin beef from the American Foods Group in Wisconsin, Cargill Inc in Minnesota, Harris Ranch Beef Co in California as well as Swift and Co in Colorado.

 

Quarantine officials also inspected and cleared 2.1 tonnes of beef from Wisconsin that arrived on another flight Sunday, said quarantine official Seigetsu Iwasaki. That meat was intended for the retail market, Iwasaki said.

 

A delegation hand-carrying beef from Nebraska state has also cleared Japanese customs, the state government said in a statement.

 

Nebraska Director of Agriculture Greg Ibach and other state officials delivered about 25 kilogrammes of rib eye and tenderloin to a Tokyo restaurant Saturday for a private reception scheduled Monday night, according to a restaurant official.

 

Friday, the first shipment of US beef in nearly two years arrived in Japan.

 

About 4.6 tonnes of meat processed at Harris Ranch Beef was imported by Marudai Food Co, which said it will not sell the meat to consumers but use it for internal testing.

 

Japan banned imports of US beef in December 2003 after the first case of mad-cow disease was reported in the US. After two years of negotiations and a lengthy Japanese approval process, Tokyo opened its doors Monday to meat from US cows under 21 months of age.

 

Before the ban, Japan purchased more US beef than any other country in the world, buying US$1.4 billion worth in 2003. Since then, Australia has surpassed the US as the biggest beef exporter to Japan.