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TheBeefSite Latest News: Japan

16 August 2006

Japan approves 35th US beef packing plant
JAPAN - There’s an additional U.S. beef packing plant from which the Japanese will accept shipments. Japan’s ag ministry says Brawley Beef located in California but owned by National Beef in Kansas City, passed inspection last week. It’s...

10 August 2006

First U.S. beef since ban goes on sale at Costco
JAPAN - U.S. beef went on sale Wednesday for the first time since the lifting of a ban imposed in January over mad cow disease, officials from the stores selling the meat said. Inspectors Tuesday opened the way for sales of U.S. beef to resume in the...

07 August 2006

Shipment of U.S. Beef Arrives in Japan
JAPAN - Japan imported its first shipment of American beef since January on Monday, resuming a once-booming business that has been crippled for nearly three years over fears of mad cow disease. The 5.1 tons of American chilled beef arrived on a cargo...

28 July 2006

Japan to totally ban US beef if risk parts found: health minister
JAPAN - Japan would impose an all-out import ban on U.S. beef again if cow parts associated with high risks of mad cow disease infection are found in U.S. beef shipments, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki said Thursday. Kawasaki showed...

14 July 2006

Japan spots banned beef products in shipment
JAPAN - Japanese customs officials have spotted banned beef products as part of turkey and ham shipment from the United States, the Agriculture Ministry said today. A box containing U.S. roast beef was spotted Monday as part of a shipment of more than...

15 May 2006

Japan confirms 26th case of mad cow disease
TOKYO - Japan has confirmed its 26th case of mad cow disease, this time in a 68-month-old Holstein dairy cow on the northern island of Hokkaido. Source: Reuters...

21 April 2006

Official Finding: Japanese Steer is BSE-Free
JAPAN - Tests conducted on samples taken from a 20-month-old steer in Japan found that it was not infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Japan has reported more than 20 cases of BSE since the first case of the brain-destroying disease...

27 March 2006

Japanese shun U.S. beef, eat Australian
TOKYO - Kenji Miyoda, savoring a bowl of rice topped with beef from Australia, raw egg and spicy sauce, believes Australian beef is far safer than American beef. "It tastes OK, it's cheap, and it fills me up," the 27-year-old banker said...

19 March 2006

U.S. answers Japan's questions on beef shipment report
JAPAN - The United States has sent to Japan an e-mail answering Japan's questions about an earlier U.S. government report on a U.S. beef shipment in January that contained banned mad cow disease risk material, agriculture ministry officials said Sunday....

17 March 2006

BSE confirmed in cow raised for food in Japan
JAPAN - Japanese officials have confirmed the country's first case of mad cow disease in cattle specifically raised to provide meat. A 14-year-old female cow among cattle bred for beef in the southern prefecture (state) of Nagasaki was confirmed to...

10 February 2006

BSE cow was fed banned bone meal
JAPAN - A cow that died last month as Japan`s 22nd confirmed case of mad cow disease had been fed meat-and-bone meal, a Japanese official has said. This is the first known use of meat-and-bone meal in Japan since it was banned in 2001 due to...

Dozens of new BSE cases suspected in Japan
JAPAN - Media reports out of Tokyo warn that Japan may now be dealing with more than forty new cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. According to Japanese wire reports, a farm in Hokkaido is suspected of having 45 cows that are positive...

Japan Ag Official: U.S. Must Explain Cattle With BSE Symptoms
JAPAN - A senior Japanese agricultural official said Thursday that the U.S. needs to explain reports of "downer" cattle - animals displaying symptoms thought to indicate mad-cow disease - being used for meat in the U.S in order to...

US slaughterhouses processed cattle unable to walk
JAPAN - Government officials hinted Thursday at a further delay in resuming U.S. beef imports following a disturbing report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that 20 sickly cattle were processed for human consumption. The animals in question...

30 January 2006

Japan sorry for not fully inspecting US beef plants
JAPAN - Japan should have more thoroughly inspected US cattle facilities before easing a ban on American beef last month, Japan’s agriculture minister said today. Shoichi Nakagawa apologised in parliament for the lack of inspections. Japanese...

23 January 2006

Japan pushes U.S. for explanation on beef
JAPAN - Japan said on Monday it would not resume U.S. beef imports without an explanation of how banned spinal material, believed to carry a high risk of causing a human form of mad cow disease, came to be found in a shipment of U.S. meat last...

20 January 2006

Japan reinstates ban on U.S. beef
JAPAN - Japan's prime minister says his country has halted the import of U.S. beef after an animal spine was found in a beef shipment at Tokyo International Airport. "I just heard the news from the agricultural minister just now over the...

Japan finds BSE risk parts in US beef imports
JAPAN - Japan is considering stopping all imports of U.S. beef - just a month after lifting a ban on the meat - after finding risk materials that could cause mad cow disease in a shipment from New York on Friday. A total of 390 kg (860 lb) of...

13 December 2005

Japan ends two-year ban on US beef
JAPAN - US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns voiced satisfaction after Japan on Monday gave the final go-ahead to resume imports of some US beef after a two-year ban. "I'm very pleased to announce that the Japanese market is now open to...

07 December 2005

75.2% of consumers unwilling to eat US beef, survey shows
JAPAN - With the Japanese government expected to remove its ban on beef imports from the United States early next week, 75.2% of surveyed consumers are unwilling to eat U.S. beef, according to a telephone survey released by Kyodo News on Tuesday....

U.S. beef imports to resume Monday
JAPAN - The government Monday will lift the two-year ban on U.S. beef imports despite consumers' doubts that U.S. measures can eliminate the risk of meat tainted by mad cow disease. Officials said once the decision is finalized Monday, importers...

30 November 2005

Japan Panel Ends Public Opinion Gathering On BSE
JAPAN - Japan's government-appointed Food Safety Commission Tuesday completed the process of gathering public feedback on the issue of whether to resume beef imports from the U.S. and Canada, Kyodo News reported. The Commission is due to deliver...

17 November 2005

Hearings Are Key to Resuming Imports of US Beef, Japan Says
JAPAN - Japan's agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa, said public hearings on U.S. beef safety are key to resuming imports. ``Public hearings, now under way, are the important final step to gain public trust in U.S. beef,'' Nakagawa said. Japan's...

13 October 2005

Japan likely to lift beef ban by year end
TOKYO – Japan’s imports of U.S. and Canadian beef are likely to resume before the end of the year, based on an analysis by the Expert Committee on Prions, a sub-group of the country’s Food Safety Commission (FSC), released at a meeting Oct. 4. Source:...

Japan likely to lift beef ban by year end
TOKYO - Japan's imports of U.S. and Canadian beef are likely to resume before the end of the year, based on an analysis by the Expert Committee on Prions, a sub-group of the country's Food Safety Commission (FSC), released at a meeting Oct. 4. Source:...

05 October 2005

Panel's BSE report supports lifting of ban on U.S., Canadian beef
JAPAN - Japan set in motion procedures to lift a ban on U.S. and Canadian beef imports after a study panel said young cattle from the two countries have a very low risk of mad cow disease infection. The panel of experts on the disease, set up...

14 September 2005

Minister rapped for comments on BSE testing
JAPAN - Farm minister Yoshinobu Shimamura has come under heavy fire from opposition and ruling party politicians for saying Japan's blanket testing of cattle for mad cow disease would be considered ``nonsense'' anywhere else. Shimamura was forced...