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U.S. report on beef should be made public in Japanese: Nakagawa+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Feb. 21_(Kyodo) _ Agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Tuesday that a Japanese translation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture report on the U.S. beef inspection process should be made available to Diet members and the general public. Nakagawa said he will seek further explanations from Washington after the Japanese people are fully informed on the matter. The report was drawn up by the U.S. department following the discovery in a shipment of veal to Japan of backbone, a designated risk material for transmitting mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The report admitted a flaw in the U.S. inspection system for beef exports and promised implementation of remedial measures. Nakagawa said the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry will present the 475-page U.S. report to the Food Safety Commission and all other bodies concerned after it has thoroughly studied it. Regarding issues such as why a risk material found its way to Japan and what the United States intends to do to prevent a recurrence, the minister said, "Questions concerning these matters are expected to be asked in the Diet and elsewhere so we hope to make such queries to Washington later and on more than one occasion." Commenting on the U.S. report, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday said it is "quite difficult" for Japan to lift its import ban on U.S. beef any time soon, citing a perception gap between Japan and the United States over food safety. The discovery of the backbone in the veal shipment prompted Japan to immediately reimpose its total import ban on U.S. beef on Jan. 20, only a month after the two-year-old restriction was lifted on condition that imports be limited to meat from cattle aged up to 20 months and that brains, spinal cords and other specified risk materials be removed before shipment. |