November 30, 2006

BC-US-Beef

Farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka was cited as saying Thursday that Japanese officials have conducted surprise inspections of U.S. meatpacking plants that were authorized to export beef to Japan after the country lifted its ban on U.S. beef imports imposed because of the fear of mad cow disease.
But Matsuoka declined to specify when and where the Japanese inspectors conducted the snap inspections to check if plants were complying with conditions for beef exports to Japan. LINK