060211 Japanese Consumers Wary of US BeefFebruary 12, 2006Washington - Japanese lawmakers told Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns that a shipment of American beef containing bones is causing ill will and deep suspicion among consumers in Japan. Bones are not allowed in Japan's beef imports because they believe it increases the risk of mad cow disease. "It was a very heated discussion," Takashi Shinohara, a member of the opposition Democratic Party, said after meeting with Johanns. "Many, many different consumers distrust the American way of inspection and are very much disappointed." Japan suspended imports of US beef on Jan. 20th after discovering that a veal shipment contained backbone. The cut, veal hotel rack, is consumed in the United States but not allowed in Japan. The mistake has endangered millions of dollars in potential sales to Japan, which reopened its market to US beef only weeks ago. The issue prompted opposition lawmakers to walk out of a session Monday in the Diet, the Japanese parliament. Agricultural Minister Shoichi Nakagawa's recent admission that Tokyo failed to inspect US meat plants before resuming trade with the United States angered the lawmakers. But Johanns said the mistake could have happened even if Japanese inspectors had visited the Brooklyn plant operated by Atlantic Veal & Lamb. After the meeting, Johanns told reporters that Japan had conducted a painstaking, thorough review of the safety of American beef. "There is nothing about this process that was shortchanged,'" he said. The department is still investigating what went wrong with the shipment.
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