Japan has announced that it will once again stop importing beef from the United States. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made the announcement Friday, saying that an animal spine was found in a beef shipment from the U.S. at Tokyo International Airport.
'I just heard the news from the agricultural minister just now over the phone, and he said Japan will stop the import totally,' Koizumi told reporters. 'He also said that it is extremely important to secure the food safety for the Japanese people and we should ask U.S. to have appropriate measures. I told him that it is a good action. I told the agricultural minister that he should consult well with health and welfare minister to take an appropriate action and request the U.S. side take appropriate measures.'
Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa was also concerned, saying '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.'
Japan had just resumed importing beef from the United States just more than a month ago. The Japanese had halted all imports for two years after the Mad Cow Disease scare in the U.S.
The ban was lifted in December and part of the agreement between the two countries was that all brains and spinal cords must be removed before American beef could be sent to Japan.
It is not certain how long the new ban will last but trade with Japan has been a major part of the American beef industry's trade prior to the Mad Cow ban. Japan imported $1.7 billion in American beef in 2003.
