041164 Banned US Beef Found in Japan

Tokyo, Japan - Japanese authorities discovered and will destroy 310 kilograms (680 pounds) of US beef, which is banned here due to fears of mad cow disease, after it arrived inside a shipment of US pork.

"It was apparently a mistake on behalf of the exporting party. But we told the importer to prevent such a mistake from happening again," said an official with the farm ministry.

Japan, once the biggest US export market for beef, banned imports of US beef in December 2003 after mad cow disease, a variant of which can affect humans, was discovered in US stocks.

US authorities announced they were investigating a possible second case of mad cow disease.

The banned beef was discovered by Japanese authorities during a routine port inspection in Tokyo of a container which was supposed to carry only pork.

But the shipment contained 310 kilograms of beef in 20 boxes, along with 6,800 kilograms (15,000 pounds) of pork, the farm ministry said.

"Through the US embassy in Tokyo, we are investigating how the mistake happened," the official said.

The beef will be incinerated, said the official, who doubted the incident was the work of criminal "beef smugglers."

Japan and the United States reached a basic agreement in October to resume Japanese imports of US beef, but technical teams are still working out how to determine the age of cows to be monitored.

Japan has screened every cow slaughtered for consumption after confirming mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in its own herd in September 2001.

Japan is the only Asian country to have confirmed mad cow disease, which decimated Britain's cattle industry starting in the 1990s.

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