USDA Receives Questions from Japan on Ineligible Veal Shipment
Secretary Johanns expects to have the information back to Japan as early as next week.
Compiled by staff
Published: Mar 9, 2006
After three weeks of reviewing USDA's 450-page report explaining an ineligible veal shipment, Japan has sent questions back to the United States about the issue. Opinions vary on both sides of the issue about how soon beef trade could resume.
Reuters reports that Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns didn't see anything in those questions that was terribly surprising. "We should have that information back to Japan maybe even as early as next week. The process continues to go along very well," Johanns is quoted saying in the article.
However, Japan Vice Agriculture Minister Mamoru Ishihara said Monday it is unclear if actions proposed by USDA would help prevent future shipments of banned U.S. beef product to Japan.
In a Monday news conference Ishihara said he wasn't satisfied with the report. "With regard to the cause of the violation and steps to prevent a recurrence, there are several unclear points," a news articles on Meatingplace.com quoted Ishihara.
"My hope is that there's a point where we can get the technical people together to resolve the final issues that are there - Japan had talked about some additional requirements related to inspection - and get those identified and then move to reopen the market to Japanese beef," Johanns says.
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