The Japanese government, through its food safety commission office, is now considering the decision to remove importation restrictions on some of the food import products coming from the US, particularly beef and other related products, as the country intensifies its efforts to ward off the threats of mad cow disease, commission officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Japan has been wary of buying US beef imports after the Western nation reported its first case of mad cow disease in 2003. With these recent developments, it appears that Tokyo has already decided to scrap the said import restrictions.
The Food Safety Commission of Japan has once banned all imports of US beef for two years due to concerns over bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which is the scientific term for mad cow disease.
By 2005, the government lifted the ban although the said import limit was implemented in place.
According to Reuters, citing the reports from Nikkei Business Daily and Mainichi newspaper, Japanese officials are now moving closer to an agreement that would remove the curb which currently allows beef importers from the country to buy meat from cattle that are no more than 30 months old.
A committee has already been formed to further discuss the pros and cons of the issue on Thursday. Initial recommendations, as indicated by Mainichi, said that removing the aforementioned age limit should not cause any harm to human consumers.
Regardless of what would be agreed upon, the committee will submit their findings to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, after a public exposition period, Nikkei added. The news agency went on to say that the cattle age restrictions will likely to be scrapped a few months after the deliberation.
Pressure from the US
Perhaps one of the most significant factors that drove Japan to reconsider the age restriction is the pressure from the US to scrap the said limit. According to the Japan Times, the Trump administration has been incessant on its call to raise, if not, remove the cap limit.
Even more so, Tokyo may have concurred to the general consensus which indicates the United States as one of the countries that has the lowest risk of infestation of the deadly cattle disease.
For Washington, its intention is to reduce the trade deficit it incurred with Japan via this trade import restriction. With its removal, the US cattle industry may finally cut the cost it pays to meet Japan's food regulations. At the same time, the US should be able to maintain its competitiveness against Australia, Japan's other source for beef.
