http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/10/23/madcow_beef041023.html
TOKYO - Negotiators have struck a deal to allow limited imports of American beef into Japan for the first time since Tokyo closed its lucrative market over fears of mad cow disease.
The agreement was announced Saturday at the end of three days of contentious talks between the two countries.
Japan's U.S. beef ban went into effect 10 months ago after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in Washington state. The animal had been imported from Canada.
At the time, Japan was the most lucrative overseas market for American beef, with sales exceeding $1.7 billion in 2003.
U.S. beef could re-appear in restaurants and supermarkets within "a matter of weeks," said J.B. Penn, the U.S. Agriculture Department's undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services.
However, key details of the agreement have yet to be ironed out, sources said.
Although the two countries agreed to lift the ban on beef from cows under 20 months, they couldn't agree on the methods to verify the age of a cow.
The United States wants to maintain its visual inspection of the meat, while Japan would like all U.S. beef to come from animals with birth certificates.
Despite the deal with Washington, the Japanese market remains closed to Canadian beef, which Tokyo banned in May 2003 when a case of mad cow disease was found in Alberta.
Andy Mitchell, the federal minister of agriculture, said he's hopeful a deal with Canada will come soon.
The Japanese have said will consider North America as "an integrated marketplace," said Mitchell. "If they're willing to allow U.S. beef in, the logical conclusion from what they've said is they'll be doing the same thing with Canadian beef.
"But they still have to go through a process, a domestic process, in Japan that will lead to the change of their domestic policy."
Written by CBC News Online staff
TOKYO - Negotiators have struck a deal to allow limited imports of American beef into Japan for the first time since Tokyo closed its lucrative market over fears of mad cow disease.
The agreement was announced Saturday at the end of three days of contentious talks between the two countries.
Japan's U.S. beef ban went into effect 10 months ago after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in Washington state. The animal had been imported from Canada.
At the time, Japan was the most lucrative overseas market for American beef, with sales exceeding $1.7 billion in 2003.
U.S. beef could re-appear in restaurants and supermarkets within "a matter of weeks," said J.B. Penn, the U.S. Agriculture Department's undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services.
However, key details of the agreement have yet to be ironed out, sources said.
Although the two countries agreed to lift the ban on beef from cows under 20 months, they couldn't agree on the methods to verify the age of a cow.
The United States wants to maintain its visual inspection of the meat, while Japan would like all U.S. beef to come from animals with birth certificates.
Despite the deal with Washington, the Japanese market remains closed to Canadian beef, which Tokyo banned in May 2003 when a case of mad cow disease was found in Alberta.
Andy Mitchell, the federal minister of agriculture, said he's hopeful a deal with Canada will come soon.
The Japanese have said will consider North America as "an integrated marketplace," said Mitchell. "If they're willing to allow U.S. beef in, the logical conclusion from what they've said is they'll be doing the same thing with Canadian beef.
"But they still have to go through a process, a domestic process, in Japan that will lead to the change of their domestic policy."
Written by CBC News Online staff
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