051222 Japan Beef Raises Safety Concerns

The Japan-America beef trade agreement, specifically the importation of Japanese beef, has some in the cattle industry concerned.

Since 2001, the U.S. has imposed a ban on beef from Japan, which has found 21 cases of mad cow disease.

On Dec. 12 the U.S. Agriculture Department lifted the ban to allow whole cuts of boneless beef from Japan under certain conditions.

Some organizations representing cattle producers have accused the USDA of abandoning scientific protection measures regarding mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Dave Smith, associate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences and extension beef and dairy veterinarian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said the risk from Japan beef is almost negligible.

"We're talking about one case of BSE per billions of servings," Smith said. "Something immeasurably small."

Darrell Mark, extension agricultural economist in the department of agricultural economics at UNL, agreed.

"The USDA is not going to import meat that isn't safe," Mark said.

Global animal health organization OIE regulates international BSE testing.

"As long as we're following OIE rules then the risk is negligible," said Chris Calkins, professor of animal science and meat scientist at UNL.

Mark said that American producers are not going to see any negative price impact from the Japan trade.

According to Mark, the impact of Japanese beef imports on the domestic industry is "infinitesimally small."

Jim Robb, director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver said that the amount of beef imported from Japan is "such a small number that we don't track it."

The U.S. appetite for Japanese beef, primarily expensive Kobe beef, is more of a niche market worth an estimated $808,000 annually.

Since the trade in Japan was halted in 2003, American cattle producers began growing Kobe-style beef for sale in America.

"Most of the Kobe beef we eat in the United States is raised in the United States," Robb said.

In 2004, of the 24.55 billion pounds of beef production in America, 3.68 billion pounds came from imports. Japan is not in the top 10 of countries that America imports from.

America exported 460 million pounds of beef in 2004. Before the trade closing with Japan, in 2003, America exported 2.5 billion pounds, 918 million pounds of that to Japan.

Japan lifted its ban on American beef on Dec. 12 and will allow beef from animals under 20 months of age.

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