Another Suspension of US Beef Imports
Earlier this week it was announced that Japan had lifted a ban on imports of US beef from a certain plant in Kansas, but accidental important of meat the Japanese consider dangerous has led to a suspension of imports from another large plant:
Japan suspended beef imports from a U.S. meatpacking plant after recent shipments from the facility contained products that failed to meet Japanese import regulations, officials said Sunday.
Imports from Smithfield Group’s Moyer packing factory in Pennsylvania will be suspended because 1,264 boxes of a recent shipment contained beef from cattle 21 months old, the Agriculture and Health Ministries said in a joint statement issued late Saturday. Japan allows only meat from cows 20 months old or younger.
Two Japanese importers were ordered to recall the products after officials found an estimated 1.2 metric tons (1.3 tons) of the 15.4 metric ton (17-ton) shipment was meat from cattle 21 months old, the statement said.
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Japan banned American beef imports in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was found in the United States. The ban was eased in July 2006.
This was the first instance that U.S. beef violating import regulations could have been sold to Japanese consumers, the ministry official said.
