Chicago - U.S. beef and pork company Swift & Co. said on Thursday that its Grand Island, Nebraska, beef plant has been declared ineligible to ship beef to Japan due to a procedural issue, but that no consumers were at risk.

"We will confirm the Grand Island plant has been delisted," said Swift spokesman Sean McHugh. "We have not received notification in writing from USDA. Upon receipt we will respond and take whatever action is necessary."

McHugh said the beef prepared at the plant for Japan fully conformed to rules regarding that market and "consumers were not at risk."

The problems apparently involved administrative procedures regarding the approval of cattle suppliers and were discovered during a recent government audit.

"The audit review found that all product that was shipped to Japan during the recent export window fully conformed to established export program standards," said McHugh.

Japan suspended purchases of U.S. beef in late January, about a month after ending a two-year ban on U.S. beef. The two-year ban was imposed due to a 2003 U.S. case of mad cow disease.

The latest ban was in reaction to a shipment of veal from New York that contained banned cattle parts.

Beef on the way to Japan from Swift will either be redirected to the United States or to other international customers, said McHugh.

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