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Japan urges U.S. not to scale down mad cow testing
TOKYO, March 16 (Reuters) - Japanese consumers, already wary of eating U.S. beef due to mad cow fears, will become even more concerned if the United States goes ahead with plans to cut back on its mad cow testing, a government official said on Thursday.
The U.S. Agriculture Department is drawing plans to scale down its mad cow surveillance programme that found two of the three U.S. cases of the disease, including one this week.
Japanese experts and consumer groups have said the current U.S. programme to test only 1 percent of the 35 million cattle slaughtered in the United States each year is insufficient, compared with the Japanese system that requires all cattle aged 21 months or older to be tested for mad cow disease.
"Japanese consumers are concerned about the U.S. way of conducting surveillance," Japanese Vice Agriculture Minister Mamoru Ishihara said at a news conference on Thursday.
Ishihara said U.S. beef would not win Japanese consumers' confidence unless the United States properly carries out its mad cow surveillance programme.
"American beef won't sell in Japan unless they regain trust from Japanese consumers," he said.
Since June 2004, the USDA has tested more than 650,000 head, mostly older and higher-risk cattle, for mad cow disease through its so-called expanded surveillance programme. The programme initially was expected to run 12 to 18 months.
Acting Undersecretary of Agriculture Chuck Lambert said on Wednesday the USDA would shift to a "maintenance" programme that would test fewer cattle and monitor the effectiveness of U.S. safeguards.
"By any stretch of the imagination, we have proven we have a very low incidence," Lambert said.
Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003, following the discovery of the first U.S. mad cow case in Washington state. Before the ban, Japan was the top importer of U.S. beef, with imports valued at $1.4 billion in 2003.
Last December Japan lifted its ban on imports of beef and beef offal from U.S. cattle aged up to 20 months, on condition that specified risk material that could transmit mad cow disease, such as spinal cords, were removed before the meat was shipped.
But the ban was reinstated just a month later after Japanese inspectors discovered banned cattle parts in a veal shipment from New York.
The Japanese government has said it cannot allow U.S. beef imports to resume until Washington finds the cause of the violation and takes steps to prevent a recurrence.
TOKYO, March 16 (Reuters) - Japanese consumers, already wary of eating U.S. beef due to mad cow fears, will become even more concerned if the United States goes ahead with plans to cut back on its mad cow testing, a government official said on Thursday.
The U.S. Agriculture Department is drawing plans to scale down its mad cow surveillance programme that found two of the three U.S. cases of the disease, including one this week.
Japanese experts and consumer groups have said the current U.S. programme to test only 1 percent of the 35 million cattle slaughtered in the United States each year is insufficient, compared with the Japanese system that requires all cattle aged 21 months or older to be tested for mad cow disease.
"Japanese consumers are concerned about the U.S. way of conducting surveillance," Japanese Vice Agriculture Minister Mamoru Ishihara said at a news conference on Thursday.
Ishihara said U.S. beef would not win Japanese consumers' confidence unless the United States properly carries out its mad cow surveillance programme.
"American beef won't sell in Japan unless they regain trust from Japanese consumers," he said.
Since June 2004, the USDA has tested more than 650,000 head, mostly older and higher-risk cattle, for mad cow disease through its so-called expanded surveillance programme. The programme initially was expected to run 12 to 18 months.
Acting Undersecretary of Agriculture Chuck Lambert said on Wednesday the USDA would shift to a "maintenance" programme that would test fewer cattle and monitor the effectiveness of U.S. safeguards.
"By any stretch of the imagination, we have proven we have a very low incidence," Lambert said.
Japan banned imports of American beef in December 2003, following the discovery of the first U.S. mad cow case in Washington state. Before the ban, Japan was the top importer of U.S. beef, with imports valued at $1.4 billion in 2003.
Last December Japan lifted its ban on imports of beef and beef offal from U.S. cattle aged up to 20 months, on condition that specified risk material that could transmit mad cow disease, such as spinal cords, were removed before the meat was shipped.
But the ban was reinstated just a month later after Japanese inspectors discovered banned cattle parts in a veal shipment from New York.
The Japanese government has said it cannot allow U.S. beef imports to resume until Washington finds the cause of the violation and takes steps to prevent a recurrence.
