USDA Takes Action to Correct Problems with Beef Shipment to Japan
Ag minister says there was a possibility that material from cattle backbone was included in beef imported from the U.S. USDA issues a response, and de-lists plant that shipped the questionable material.
Willie Vogt 
Published: Jan 20, 2006
Beef trade resumption with Japan hit a bump this week with reports that imported U.S. beef may have contained material considered at risk for mad cow infection.
Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa says "there was the possibility that material from cattle backbone was included in beef imported from the U.S.," the Associated Press reports.
Nakagawa told reporters if the statement is true, it goes against the U.S.-Japan trade resumption agreement and could halt further importations of U.S. beef. He says a thorough investigation is needed to determine if banned material was included in a shipment.
Ag Secretary Mike Johanns issued as statement Friday: "We take this matter very seriously. We are conducting a thorough investigation. Under U.S. regulations, the backbone, or vertebral column, that was exported to Japan is not a specified risk material because it was in beef under 30 months. However, our agreement with Japan is to export beef with no vertebral column and we have failed to meet the terms of that agreement."
He noted in the statement that the processing plant that shipped the beef in question has been de-listed from the program and cannot ship beef to Japan. In addition, the USDA employee responsible for letting the shipment get by in his inspection will be disciplined.
During a press conference earlier Friday, Johanns listed a 12-step series of actions the agency was taking. "I take this matter very seriously. It shouldn't have happened," he says. The meat in question came from a processor that had been certified under the Beef Export Verification program. It was the first shipment by this processor to Japan.
As part of its response to the issue, USDA will be adding training for inspectors, doubling the number of inspectors at processors in the BEV program. In addition, a team of inspectors is on the way to Japan today to inspect all beef that has been received by the country for prohibited materials.
Johanns also says no more plants will be added to the BEV program until this issue is resolved. While the vertebral material in the animal was not classified as specified risk material in the United States, it was specifically prohibited as part of the agreement with Japan.
When Johanns was asked by a Japanese journalist if he felt Japan had overreacted in closing its market, Johanns replied: "I don't think so. We've had situations in the past where we felt our requirements for an import weren't being met and we have acted. I don't think the Japanese government has overreacted at all."
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