Japan May Ban U.S. Beef...Again

It seems that japan has halted the import of all beef from the United States. This was done after an animal spine was found in the beef. A ban on U.S. beef that lasted 2 years was recently lifted only to have imports halted again. This incident violates the argeement the two countries had so the ban would be lifted. Japan use to be the most lucrative importer for american beef, importing 1.7 billion worth in 2003.

external source
"I just heard the news from the agricultural minister just now over the phone, and he said Japan will stop the import totally," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters Friday.

Shoichi Nakagawa, the agricultural minister of Japan said, "If that's true (that a spine was found in a beef shipment), we consider that is a grave violation of import process. We will look into it closely and ask U.S. side to clarify the problem."

The spine violates the agreement between the two countries, meaning the ban could be reinstated. A news conference was scheduled for later Friday.

Japan, which has had its own cases of BSE, tests every cow sold and previously had demanded the United States do the same. U.S. producers, however, said such steps were not necessary or economical.

www.cnn.com...

apparently it seems that the U.S. really isnt concerned with the potential dangers of Mad Cow Disease. This could cost us some serious money because we are too lazy to take necessary precautions.

though japan re-instating the ban is something to look down upon i think the real problem here is the fact the U.S. producers feel checkin animals for mad cow disease is "not necessary or economical". this worries me, because that would mean the beef we are eating isnt as safe as it should be.

im very much more worried of the possible effects of unchecked meat in our own country that allows it rather then the ban of meat in japan because they caught a violation of the agreement that was only made a month ago. 1 month and weve already violated the ban. i wonder how many times this has been done here at home...


edit: messed up quotation


[edit on 20-1-2006 by grimreaper797]

Where's the Beef?? Love that one
Japan is smart to stop the import if they think something is wrong!
Like You, It's sad that The Department of food and drug administration is playing the old "who, what, where, why
It's not like you are not paying our taxes. One would think that the Cattlemen that supply the beef would be pissed off about this. That's product going down the drain. + We will end up paying for it at the market, bad beef and all.
We all know the old government is about doing things to. It's like putting up a stop light at a 4 way, there has to be at lest X number of people killed at that spot to so call justify the expense on putting up a light.

If our meat packers are so careless as to do something like including spines in meat shipments, they deserve to be banned. Hopefully the increased scrutiny will improve the process, because I don't want to eat beef contaminated with nervous material no more than the Japanese do in light of the mad cow problem.

agreed its just sad that, even though they might ban it again, it wont change anything. they banned the meat 2 year ago and not even a month into agreement to open it back up they already found a problem.
i cant imagin what gets through our industry then. to me thats the scariest part of it all, that the businesses dont find it necessary because its not economical for them. it would cost them money to check every cow, there for, not in their best interests to do so. so they dont.

I agree with you grim. I first heard the story on CNN radio this morning. The report stated that the company would no longer be able to "export" beef products. Thanks alot.