U.S. Ready for Additional Training for Meat Inspectors

[frenchie]

U.S. Ready for Additional Training for Meat Inspectors
Jiji Press English News Service, March 30, 2006
Washington, March 29 (Jiji Press)--The United States is prepared to carry out additional training for inspectors to help Japan dispel its concern about the U.S. inspection system for mad cow disease, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Wednesday.
"If they feel that we have to do additional training, we will agree to do that," Johanns told reporters. "Japan is an important trading partner."
Johanns made the comments after the two countries on Wednesday ended two-day talks in Tokyo on Japan's import ban on American beef.
Japan reinstated its all-out import ban on U.S. beef in January, a month after its two-year-old ban was eased, because prohibited mad cow disease risk materials were found in a shipment of veal from a New York meat processor.
At the bilateral meeting, Japanese asked for some additional training and paid "very close attention" to manuals to make sure U.S. meat processing plants meet the Japanese requirements for U.S. beef import, Johanns said, adding that "if that's the concession on our part, so be it."
He said he hopes to hold the next meeting soon, without predicting a specific timetable.END
(C) 2006 Jiji Press English News Service. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

 

[flounder]

nothing like regulating BSE testing numbers on trading partners, thats what i call 'sound science' ;-) :roll:


here is an article with a little bit more meat to this topic ;


JAPAN YET TO BE SATISFIED

U.S. agrees to beef precautions

By MAYUMI NEGISHI and YUMI WIJERS-HASEGAWA

Staff writers

The United States agreed Wednesday to train workers handling beef exports to Japan and to double its final checks on beef shipments headed here, according to government officials on both sides.

But Tokyo is not completely satisfied.

At a two-day technical meeting between the two countries on U.S. beef that ended Wednesday in Tokyo, the two sides reached "a degree" of understanding, said Hirofumi Kugita, director of the farm ministry's animal health division.

"I cannot call it a major step forward, but I can say it was a step forward, rather than backward," Kugita told reporters after meeting with U.S. delegates.

In addition to the training and the checks, the U.S. also has agreed to increase communication among the different regulatory sections within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

No target date was set for lifting the ban on U.S. beef.

Japan closed its doors to U.S. beef a second time in January after customs inspectors at Narita airport found backbone material in a U.S. veal shipment.

Japan had reopened the market to U.S. beef in December with an agreement from the U.S. that their suppliers would remove material deemed a mad cow disease risk, including spinal cords, eyes and brains, from shipments to Japan.

Tokyo's main concern has been whether the January incident was truly an isolated case as Washington claims. Japan suspects it could be a systemic problem and has asked the U.S. to show that other facilities will not make the same mistake.

"We are not yet fully convinced by the U.S. explanation that (the veal shipment) was a unique incident," said Hideshi Michino, director of the health ministry's office of import food inspection and safety division. "But the U.S. admits it needs to carry out improvement measures, and we want to study those measures."

The two parties reached some degree of understanding about why the veal incident occurred and how to prevent it from happening again, the farm ministry's Kugita said.

Washington has agreed to teach workers at U.S. meatpacking plants about what cuts of meat are eligible for shipment to Japan.

"This is another step along the path to the resumption of trade," said Chuck Lambert, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs at the USDA.

The additional training of personnel is one point on a preliminary checklist of precautions the U.S. side promises to take starting Monday to prevent another incident like the veal shipment.

After the list has been finalized, USDA auditors will use it to inspect about 40 plants that want to send beef to Japan.

Once the auditors are confident the plants have addressed Japan's concerns, the two sides will discuss the next step to restarting shipments of U.S. beef, Lambert said.

However, no timeline has been set to reopen the market. Lambert said new issues might arise from the Japanese side, including increased concern from Japanese consumers and the possibility a Japanese delegation will inspect U.S. plants.

Hoping to increase its transparency on the negotiations, the central government plans to hold public talks with consumers to answer questions and respond to concerns about U.S. beef.

"Afterward, we will decide whether it is OK to resume beef imports under the current framework," Michino of the health ministry said.

He did not try to predict when Japan would reopen its doors to U.S. beef.

"Of course our hope is sooner better than later -- we would settle with tomorrow," Lambert said. However, he added, "We have to be realistic. We're working to move through this in a step-wise manner."
The Japan Times: Thursday, March 30, 2006
(C) All rights reserved

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