Technical Team Heads to Japan
Aim is to get beef trade back on track after shipment mistake in January.
Compiled by staff
Published: Mar 23, 2006
Ag Secretary Mike Johanns announced Wednesday he was sending a technical team to meet with the Japanese government next week to answer questions. The group will also press to get the market reopened to U.S. beef.
Beef trade, which restarted in December 2005, came to a halt just five weeks later when a veal shipment from an East Coast provider was found to contain prohibited vertebral material and offal. The provider has been delisted as a supplier and USDA took aggressive, immediate action to tighten up the inspection system. In addition, officials prepared a detailed report on the incident for the Japanese government.
That report was greeted with more questions by the Japanese government, and USDA answered those questions over last weekend. However, the next step is to put a team on the ground in Japan for more detailed talks. "The United States is eager to provide any additional clarification Japan may request so we can resume beef exports to Japan as quickly as possible," says Johanns in a press statement.
He adds that the report USDA prepared is thorough and the agency's actions "address the unique circumstances surrounding this ineligible shipment. Now my hope is that we can take the next steps toward resumption of normal trade." The team was directed to go to Japan after that country signaled a willingness to receive the experts.
The team will be led by Marketing and Regulatory Programs Acting Under Secretary, Chuck Lambert. Also on the team will be representatives from USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service, Agriculture Marketing Service, Foreign Agricultural Service and the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service.
There is some added concern about the U.S. ability to meet stringent trade requirements after bone material was found in a shipment of boxed beef that went to Hong Kong - another market that just recently reopened. The Chinese response was to ban shipments from that Colorado packer.
Permalink: Click here
Tagged: usda
|