Jan. 28 — The Japanese government circulated a directive Jan. 23 to the Quarantine Management Office to admit imports of U.S. beef products derived from cattle less than 30 months of age, effective immediately, changing it from the previous age threshold of 20 months, according to the directive issued by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and obtained by Bloomberg BNA Jan. 28.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries relaxed the age threshold to less than 30 months for unprocessed beef in February 2013 under a bilateral agreement. But the ministry, which is in charge of processed beef products trade administration, had kept an essential ban on U.S. processed beef products imports because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) precautions, Yutaka Konishi, an official of the MHLW's Office of Imported Food Safety Policy, told Bloomberg BNA.
Konishi said that even with the less-than-30-months age threshold, U.S. producers of processed beef products must obtain U.S. Department of Agriculture verification and certification to export to Japan.
In 2013, Japan imported a total of 3.1 million processed meat products, according to MHLW statistics. Processed U.S. beef products essentially accounted for zero.