12/7/2006 Small Mistake

Small Mistake I wish it hadn't happened again, but it did. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back to tell you what it was. Getting settled into a consistent marketing of U.S. beef to Japan sure seems to be a rocky road. Another mistake has been made in a shipment of beef to Osaka, Japan. This time one box of thymus glands was found in a shipment of 760 boxes of beef and beef tongue. Thymus gland is eligible to be shipped to Japan but not from the beef processing plant that sent it. The mistake posed no health risk to Japan's customers, but Japan is shutting down imports from the Swift Company plant of Greeley, Colorado until a report is filed and changes are implemented to rectify the problem. Japan will then send a delegation to inspect and recertify the plant. The Swift Company has three other beef processing plants that are still eligible for beef export to Japan. I know the guidelines and procedures on U.S. beef exports to Japan are very restrictive and burdensome, but it troubles me that these mistakes happen with USDA inspectors and Swift's own control people are both checking shipments. Beef exports to Japan it not a penny candy market to the U.S. beef industry. The first accident by a U.S. exporter that caused the Japanese market to be closed in January and this new one were both about slack inspections and attention to guidelines. I think U.S. beef exporters should and I know they can do a better job of checking and rechecking shipments to Japan. I'm Jeff Keane. Western Livestock Reporter 11/15/06