U.S. officials give beef industry a refresher on Japanese meat concerns
Canadian Press
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns summoned meat industry representatives to a three-hour meeting Tuesday to help reassure Japan there will be no further shipments of prohibited cuts of beef.
Japan halted U.S. beef shipments Friday after finding a shipment of veal that contained backbone, which Asian countries consider at risk for mad cow disease. The cuts - veal hotel rack, which has rib bones connected to the spine - are eaten in the United States but not allowed in Japan.
At a Tuesday afternoon session, Agriculture officials provided a refresher course on export rules and how to fill out forms. First, however, the industry offered a public mea culpa.
"The shipment of bone-in product to Japan by one small company that failed to meet the requirements is a major breakdown and is inexcusable," said National Meat Association executive director Rosemary Mucklow, reading aloud from a letter to Johanns.
"We earnestly ask that you convey our apologies to Japanese government officials as you seek to reopen this market again," Mucklow said.
The mistake jeopardized a market worth $1.4 billion US in 2003, the final year before Japan banned the importation of U.S. beef.
"That's a lot of revenue to jeopardize over a careless mistake," Johanns said.
"We are making the case that our swift actions address the problem."
Just weeks ago Japan reopened its market, which had been closed since the United States discovered its first case of mad cow disease in December 2003. Since then, the United States has found one additional case of the brain-wasting disease.
Japan confirmed its 22nd case Tuesday. The disease was also in the news Monday, when Canada confirmed its fourth case of mad cow disease.
About three-dozen companies and industry groups sent representatives to the meeting in an Agriculture Department auditorium. The company that shipped the veal rack, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Atlantic Veal & Lamb, did not attend Tuesday's meeting, the department said.
The company, whose export certification was rescinded by the Agriculture Department, said last week it shipped the veal in response to a Japanese customer's order and had made an honest mistake.
Johanns said the department is still investigating what went wrong. Japan is waiting for a report; in the meantime, Johanns sent a top deputy to Tokyo for meetings with Japanese officials.
Johanns said Friday it appears the government inspector didn't realize from the paperwork at the plant that veal hotel rack is a cut that contains backbone. Johanns is now requiring a second inspector to sign off on each shipment to Japan.
The agriculture secretary also dispatched extra inspectors to U.S. meat processing plants, ordered unannounced inspections and took several other steps to reassure Japan.
At issue in the export rules for Japan are materials that can carry mad cow disease, such as the vertebral column, or backbone, brain, skull, eyes, spinal cord and other nerve tissue.
In the United States, these so-called "specified risk materials" must be removed from beef from cows older than 30 months; infection levels are believed to rise with age. In Japan, those parts must be removed from cattle at any age.
In addition, Japan requires U.S. shipments come from cattle younger than 21 months of age.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is the medical name for mad cow disease, a degenerative nerve disease in cattle. In people, eating meat or cattle products contaminated with BSE is linked to a rare, fatal human disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Canadian Press
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns summoned meat industry representatives to a three-hour meeting Tuesday to help reassure Japan there will be no further shipments of prohibited cuts of beef.
Japan halted U.S. beef shipments Friday after finding a shipment of veal that contained backbone, which Asian countries consider at risk for mad cow disease. The cuts - veal hotel rack, which has rib bones connected to the spine - are eaten in the United States but not allowed in Japan.
At a Tuesday afternoon session, Agriculture officials provided a refresher course on export rules and how to fill out forms. First, however, the industry offered a public mea culpa.
"The shipment of bone-in product to Japan by one small company that failed to meet the requirements is a major breakdown and is inexcusable," said National Meat Association executive director Rosemary Mucklow, reading aloud from a letter to Johanns.
"We earnestly ask that you convey our apologies to Japanese government officials as you seek to reopen this market again," Mucklow said.
The mistake jeopardized a market worth $1.4 billion US in 2003, the final year before Japan banned the importation of U.S. beef.
"That's a lot of revenue to jeopardize over a careless mistake," Johanns said.
"We are making the case that our swift actions address the problem."
Just weeks ago Japan reopened its market, which had been closed since the United States discovered its first case of mad cow disease in December 2003. Since then, the United States has found one additional case of the brain-wasting disease.
Japan confirmed its 22nd case Tuesday. The disease was also in the news Monday, when Canada confirmed its fourth case of mad cow disease.
About three-dozen companies and industry groups sent representatives to the meeting in an Agriculture Department auditorium. The company that shipped the veal rack, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Atlantic Veal & Lamb, did not attend Tuesday's meeting, the department said.
The company, whose export certification was rescinded by the Agriculture Department, said last week it shipped the veal in response to a Japanese customer's order and had made an honest mistake.
Johanns said the department is still investigating what went wrong. Japan is waiting for a report; in the meantime, Johanns sent a top deputy to Tokyo for meetings with Japanese officials.
Johanns said Friday it appears the government inspector didn't realize from the paperwork at the plant that veal hotel rack is a cut that contains backbone. Johanns is now requiring a second inspector to sign off on each shipment to Japan.
The agriculture secretary also dispatched extra inspectors to U.S. meat processing plants, ordered unannounced inspections and took several other steps to reassure Japan.
At issue in the export rules for Japan are materials that can carry mad cow disease, such as the vertebral column, or backbone, brain, skull, eyes, spinal cord and other nerve tissue.
In the United States, these so-called "specified risk materials" must be removed from beef from cows older than 30 months; infection levels are believed to rise with age. In Japan, those parts must be removed from cattle at any age.
In addition, Japan requires U.S. shipments come from cattle younger than 21 months of age.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is the medical name for mad cow disease, a degenerative nerve disease in cattle. In people, eating meat or cattle products contaminated with BSE is linked to a rare, fatal human disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
© The Canadian Press 2006