Japan says no need to impose broad ban on US beef

TOKYO: Japan will not impose a blanket ban on US beef imports, despite the discovery of a spinal column in a meat shipment from an American processing plant, a
government spokesman said on this Thursday.

Japan this week temporarily halted beef shipments from a US plant after finding the spinal column, which violated a trade accord prohibiting parts believed to pose a
risk of mad cow disease.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said the violation was apparently an isolated case, and Tokyo would not retaliate by blocking all beef shipments from the
United States.

"We understand this is not a systematic problem concerning US exports to Japan and there is no need to impose an import ban," he told reporters.

"But this is clearly unwelcome, and we asked the US government to fully abide by conditions concerning Japan-bound shipments," Machimura added.

The spinal column was discovered April 21 at a Japanese meat-processing factory during an inspection, said a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

It was found in one of 700 boxes shipped from National Beef California LP and imported by trading house Itochu Corp, the statement said. Shipments from the
US-based company have been halted.

Japan imposed a ban on US beef imports in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease was found in the United States.