Japan's agriculture minister yesterday called a US probe into the outbreak of mad cow disease incomplete and said his country would not reconsider a six-week ban on American beef until it receives new proposals from Wash-ington for tighter safeguards.
Japan is pressing the US to test all cattle for the disease before slaughter, a measure implemented by Japan's much smaller beef industry after a mad cow scare here two years ago.
The US says blanket testing is unnecessary and would be pro-hibitively expensive, but a series of US agriculture and trade officials sent to Tokyo to persuade Japan to lift an import ban have come away empty handed.
Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei said yesterday that he had asked the most recent delegation to propose safeguards "based on" Japan's system, which Kamei credited with restoring consumer confidence in Japanese beef.
"We have explained our country's position," Kamei said in a television interview. "We are expecting some kind of proposal from the United States."
Before it suspended imports on Dec. 24, Japan was the most lucrative export market for US beef, buying almost US$1 billion worth in 2002.
Kamei criticized last month's decision by the US Agricultural Department to give up efforts to track all 80 cows that entered the US from a Canadian farm with a single Holstein that tested positive for the disease in Washington state in December. The probe closed after 28 cows were traced.
"It's unclear where the other 50 cows ended up, and that's not adequate," he said. "I don't think they made enough of an effort."
"There's no guarantee there won't be a second or third case, and Japanese consumers need to feel confident about eating American beef even if that happens," he said.
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