U.S. technical team in Tokyo for talks on beef ban

A U.S. technical team started a two-day meeting with Japanese officials on Tuesday to discuss Japan's reimposed ban on American beef over food safety concerns.

The team headed by Chuck Lambert, acting U.S. agriculture undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, was expected to answer questions on an ineligible U.S. veal export case in January, which led to the closure of the Japanese market again.

Officials from Japan's foreign, agriculture and health ministries took part in the meeting.

On Jan. 20, Japan reimposed the ban on U.S. beef imports after banned spine bones were discovered in a veal shipment from the United States,which Tokyo considers to be at risk of mad cow disease.

In February, the United States submitted a report to Japan, saying the veal shipment was a "unique" case.

American officials have been trying to persuade the Japanese that the shipment of the prohibited veal stems from a misunderstanding of the new rules for selling beef to Japan by a U.S. government inspector.

The Japanese government is not yet satisfied with corrective measures included in the report and has doubts about whether appropriate measures are being taken at about 40 U.S. meat-processing facilities certified for beef exports to Japan.

Japanese Vice Agriculture Minister Mamoru Ishihara told a press conference Monday, "We believe not only the Japanese government but also the Japanese public have not received sufficient explanation. We would like the United States to understand Japanese consumers' interests."

Japan banned all imports of U.S. beef in December 2003 after the discovery of the first case of mad cow disease in the American herd.

The ban was eased in December 2005 to allow the import of American beef from cows aged 20 months or younger, but the trade was halted again after the faulty veal shipment in January.

Japan, the world's second largest economy, was once a 14-billion-dollar export market for American beef.

But after two years of hiatus, Australian beef now makes up 51 percent of the beef consumed in Japan.

Source: Xinhua