National News

Japan receives first batch of U.S. beef

The first shipment of U.S. beef since Japan re-imposed a ban in January over fears of mad cow disease arrived Aug. 7 at Narita airport.

The importer of the 5.1 tons of beef was Costco Wholesale Japan Inc., the Japanese unit of U.S. Costco Wholesale Corp., which has five outlets in Japan.

The meat was carefully inspected after it arrived. All the boxes were checked to see that there were no high-risk materials, including brains and spinal cords. More shipments are expected.

Major supermarket chains Ito-Yokado Co., Aeon Co. and Daiei Co. have said, however, that they are not going to sell U.S. beef for a while because of a lack of consumer confidence.

Despite reluctance by both sellers and consumers in Japan, the United States has asked Japan to ease the import conditions on the age of cows killed for beef from 21 months as at present to under 30 months.

But Tokyo Medical University professor Kiyotoshi Kaneko, who used to work with the Food Safety Commission looking at U.S. beef safety, said the U.S. pressure shows the issue is really about economy and power relationships between Japan and the United States.

"Health is left behind somewhere," he said, adding that even the current standard of cows under 21 months was set by government officials on "no scientific grounds whatsoever."

Kaneko left the committee in April together with five other members to protest the government's move to lift the import ban. (The Japan Times)

Shukan ST: Aug. 18, 2006

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