US beef imports in Japan

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US beef imports in Japan were a contentious issue after BSE was detected among two cattle in the US.

[edit] Import ban

In late 2003, Japan suspended all imports of American beef due to a single BSE case in Washington State.^[1] In December 2005, Japan agreed to remove the restriction on importing US beef. However, in January imports stopped again because inspectors found banned cattle parts in a veal shipment from the U.S.

Japan halted all imports of US beef in January 2006 --just six weeks after the Japanese government began to allow boneless beef from animals younger than 21 months into Japan after a two-year ban-- because of bone material found in a shipment of veal from New York State. US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns conceded that the shipment had violate the Japanese regulations. Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore had quickly followed Japan's lead in relaxing the import restrictions. In 2003, Japan accounted for $1.4 billion of the $3.9 billion in global sales of American beef and meat products; there had been two cases of BSE in the United States and 21 cases in Japan at the time.^[2] In June 2006, Japan again lifted the ban on imports.^{[citation needed]}