Japan and BSE Testing

[farmers_son]

Got this clip from Animalnet. I noted that Japan is not letting local governments test on their own which speaks to the Creekstone issue in North America. As well this new direction should be positive for increased trade in North American beef.

JAPAN: Ministry: End BSE tests on young cows
12.sep.07
The Asahi Shimbun
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200709110524.html
The health ministry has, according to this story, called on all prefectural and municipal governments--without exception--to end mad cow disease tests of cattle under 21 months next July.
The directive came after nine prefectural governments said in an Asahi Shimbun survey they intended to continue the tests even after the central government stops funding them next July.
In the survey, conducted two months ago, the governments was cited as saying they want to continue testing to allay safety concerns and to meet the requests of consumers.
In a notice dated Aug. 31, however, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was quoted as saying "It is important that (all the prefectural and municipal governments) end their inspections at the end of July 2008, across the board."
It also said, "It would cause chaos among producers and distributors as well as concern among consumers if the approach of individual governments toward the tests varies from one to another."
Tatsuya Kakita, an expert on food labeling and a representative of the Yokohama-based research institute on consumer issues, criticized the ministry's instruction, saying it was aimed at limiting the choice of consumers.
The ministry plans to terminate its funding of the entire cost of the tests of cattle aged 20 months or younger for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease.
The ministry was cited as saying that if the beef of some districts are marketed with a label mentioning the all-cattle tests, it will give the impression that beef from other districts are not as safe.
Officials with the health ministry's Inspection and Safety Division called the continued checks on cattle not older than 20 months as a step "close to the waste of taxpayers' money." It said that there had been no cows in this age group suspected of having the infection.

[rkaiser]

Well I guess the multinational pressure along with their support from thier friends at the NCBA and CCA got their way and got to prove that they were right in that same order.

Four and a half years later and we still only have speculation of carcasses leaving this continent for the Asian market.

BUT those who said that testing was not needed were right.... WHATEVER

What else should we -the Canadian Beef Producers - LOL support that the packers want farmer_son?

Nothing like helping them to keep the disfunctional market going is there.

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Exactly Randy, I see it happening all the time from the anti-testing crowd: "Oh look, Japan is accepting our beef without testing, we OBVIOUSLY don't need it"

For those who feel that way, I kindly ask you to grab a solid grip on reality and take a look at the export numbers and how poor they've truly been. Have a look at the growth numbers too.

I'm waiting for Hughy boy from the CCA to say something along those lines. It'll just give me one more reason to smack him if I ever meet him

[grassfarmer]

I was puzzled by the last line of the original post "It said that there had been no cows in this age group suspected of having the infection." So are the Japanese claiming now they have never had BSE cases in under 20 month cattle? or none recently?

[farmers_son]

I would add to rkaisers comment re 4 ½ years later and we only have speculation regarding exports and say that 4 ½ years since BSE and we are still waiting for Rule 2 and normalized U.S. trade for our cows and cow beef. It has been a long time, far too long. But only a short while longer.

Some say that BSE testing should be used as a marketing tool, certainly Japan has used BSE testing as a protectionist tool. I do agree with Japan’s view that if they allowed testing of some beef the impression is given that untested beef is not as safe. We need to remember that food safety is achieved by removal of SRMs and testing is for surveillance purposes. Even within Canada we cannot take our consumers confidence in beef for granted. They have been with us all the way but the message has to remain that all our beef is safe as it surely is.

I think rkaiser knows very well I am not very interested in what Cargill and Tyson want. I know I am a cattle producer not a beef producer although I look forward to the day when I can sell (and get paid for) beef too. I am happy to see some reason slowly start to come back into beef trade. As Japan points out testing young animals for BSE was akin to a waste of money. It never was supported by science. Looking at export numbers, most understand that the bulk of Canadian beef exports to Japan pre May 2003 were first funneled through the U.S. and direct Canadian non-NAFTA beef exports were only a token number at best.

While I take this as good news, bottom line is once North American beef does start to enter Japan and other Asian markets it will only displace Australian beef to our domestic markets. North America will still import more from off shore than it exports offshore, it has been that way for as long as we have had cattle. Still this announcement marks a gradual return to science based decision making and should be taken as positive for Canadian and for that matter U.S. cattle producers. As rkaiser points out, it has been a long time.