03/29/05 Japan takes small step

American Rancher March 29, 2005 Japan has taken one step that brings it closer to reopening its market to U.S. beef. A subcommittee of Japan's Food Safety Commission has concluded, after a five-months discussion, that allowing cattle under 21-months of age to be excluded from testing for BSE would only pose a minor risk to human health. Phil Seng, President of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, says there are still many steps to go before U.S. beef can re-enter the Japanese market. Seng: "The Food Safety Commission will accept this report we think in the next two to three days. That will then be passed to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and also the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Then there will be a 30-day comment period. After that 30-day comment period, which will include internet, consumers, then we would expect they would make that official that it is not necessary. From that point forward they would start negotiating as far as what to do as far as international." So Seng's latest prediction on reopening the Japanese market is; Seng: "To be very realistic you are probably looking at before you would see any product move, you are probably looking at late summer. Probably late August as the earliest." Meanwhile USDA undersecretary J.B. Penn say reports that Taiwan was going to again accept U.S. beef after April 16th were erroneous. He says the U.S. and Taiwan are close to an agreement but "we are not quite there yet." I'm Bob Hoff.