Food Safety Commission Declares U.S. Beef Is Safe

Japan                                                                              

Food Safety Commission Declares U.S. Beef Is Safe

Japan’s Food Safety Commission issued its final report on the safety of U.S. beef today and USMEF President & CEO Philip Seng issued the following statement:

Statement On Japan’s Food Safety Commission Finding That U.S. Beef Is Safe
By
Philip M. Seng, President and CEO
U.S.Meat Export Federation
December 8, 2005

“We were delighted today to learn that the Japan Food Safety Commission (FSC) has issued its final report on the safety of U.S. beef. The FSC thoughtfully and thoroughly reviewed Japan’s own bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) policies and procedures and recommended changes, which were later accepted by the government of Japan. It then undertook an equally rigorous examination of U.S. beef production procedures and protocols designed to ensure the safety of the beef products we produce for our Japanese customers.

“In its report issued today in Japan, the FSC has concluded that U.S. beef is safe for Japanese consumers. This stringent regulatory review by the FSC now allows Japan’s Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to re-open the Japanese market, while consumers can be confident that a stringent Japan regulatory process has determined U.S. beef is safe.

“The U.S. beef industry looks forward to supplying safe beef to the Japanese market that meets the stringent regulatory criteria of Japan and U.S. regulators. We are looking forward to the completion of this process and to working with the Japanese meat sector to supply the cuts that meet the desires of Japan’s consumers for healthy, nutritious and safe beef.” 

The next step is for Japan’s Ministries of Health, Labor and Welfare and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to issue a rule to open the market. The Japanese government is then expected to send an observational team to witness USDA procedures in a number of U.S. beef plants as exports resume.

The agreement to reopen the market restricts product to animals of 20 months of age or younger and stipulates an age-verification process that will limit eligible animals to perhaps as few as 10 percent of the U.S. herd, USMEF estimates. This is a challenge that USMEF is prepared to work to turn into a success story without accepting these restrictions as valid or permanent. USMEF sees the reopening of the market as a first, essential step in the long journey to complete market restoration.

USMEF’s goal is, of course, to restore U.S. beef to the No. 1 position in Japan’s import market. While Seng is confident this can and will be achieved, it cannot happen overnight. U.S. beef will be relaunched as part of a total communications approach designed to reassure Japan’s consumers that there is no safer beef than U.S. beef. USMEF has carefully fostered partnerships with companies and individuals in the Japanese industry over the last 30 years, and its initial strategy will be to use those partnerships with telling effect, making good use of the funds it has at its disposal. Targeted, culturally sensitive promotions, advertising and well thought-out activities are essential, Seng noted. The Japanese public has been told by some in the media that U.S. beef is unsafe. Now that U.S. beef is back, trusted names in Japanese retail and processing will sell U.S. beef and endorse the safety of the product we produce and they sell.

The decision by the Japanese government is also likely to refuel the pens of the uninformed and hostile critics of U.S. beef, but USMEF will capitalize on statements by the FSC and other Japanese government agencies to demonstrate that U.S. beef has been acquitted not by American organizations but by impartial Japanese representatives of science and government, Seng said. The USMEF public and media relations campaign will certainly include details of the excellent measures put into place by the USDA, but it will focus on official and scientific Japanese approval of U.S. beef. The campaign will be coordinated closely with our U.S. industry and USDA partners so that a unified voice of reason will be heard in Japan rather than a divided chorus open to exploitation by detractors.

Russia                                                                                           

New List Of Approved Pork Plants Online

The new list of pork plants and cold storage facilities approved for export to Russia is now online on the FSIS list of approved plants. Additions have been made to the list and reinspected plants from Region 1 are also included. All establishments involved in slaughtering or storing raw pork intended for export to the Russian Federation must be reviewed by an official of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and listed on the approved plant list.

Japan                                                                              

Food Safety Commission Declares U.S. Beef Is Safe

Japan’s Food Safety Commission issued its final report on the safety of U.S. beef today and USMEF President & CEO Philip Seng issued the following statement:

Statement On Japan’s Food Safety Commission Finding That U.S. Beef Is Safe
By
Philip M. Seng, President and CEO
U.S.Meat Export Federation
December 8, 2005

“We were delighted today to learn that the Japan Food Safety Commission (FSC) has issued its final report on the safety of U.S. beef. The FSC thoughtfully and thoroughly reviewed Japan’s own bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) policies and procedures and recommended changes, which were later accepted by the government of Japan. It then undertook an equally rigorous examination of U.S. beef production procedures and protocols designed to ensure the safety of the beef products we produce for our Japanese customers.

“In its report issued today in Japan, the FSC has concluded that U.S. beef is safe for Japanese consumers. This stringent regulatory review by the FSC now allows Japan’s Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to re-open the Japanese market, while consumers can be confident that a stringent Japan regulatory process has determined U.S. beef is safe.

“The U.S. beef industry looks forward to supplying safe beef to the Japanese market that meets the stringent regulatory criteria of Japan and U.S. regulators. We are looking forward to the completion of this process and to working with the Japanese meat sector to supply the cuts that meet the desires of Japan’s consumers for healthy, nutritious and safe beef.” 

The next step is for Japan’s Ministries of Health, Labor and Welfare and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to issue a rule to open the market. The Japanese government is then expected to send an observational team to witness USDA procedures in a number of U.S. beef plants as exports resume.

The agreement to reopen the market restricts product to animals of 20 months of age or younger and stipulates an age-verification process that will limit eligible animals to perhaps as few as 10 percent of the U.S. herd, USMEF estimates. This is a challenge that USMEF is prepared to work to turn into a success story without accepting these restrictions as valid or permanent. USMEF sees the reopening of the market as a first, essential step in the long journey to complete market restoration.

USMEF’s goal is, of course, to restore U.S. beef to the No. 1 position in Japan’s import market. While Seng is confident this can and will be achieved, it cannot happen overnight. U.S. beef will be relaunched as part of a total communications approach designed to reassure Japan’s consumers that there is no safer beef than U.S. beef. USMEF has carefully fostered partnerships with companies and individuals in the Japanese industry over the last 30 years, and its initial strategy will be to use those partnerships with telling effect, making good use of the funds it has at its disposal. Targeted, culturally sensitive promotions, advertising and well thought-out activities are essential, Seng noted. The Japanese public has been told by some in the media that U.S. beef is unsafe. Now that U.S. beef is back, trusted names in Japanese retail and processing will sell U.S. beef and endorse the safety of the product we produce and they sell.

The decision by the Japanese government is also likely to refuel the pens of the uninformed and hostile critics of U.S. beef, but USMEF will capitalize on statements by the FSC and other Japanese government agencies to demonstrate that U.S. beef has been acquitted not by American organizations but by impartial Japanese representatives of science and government, Seng said. The USMEF public and media relations campaign will certainly include details of the excellent measures put into place by the USDA, but it will focus on official and scientific Japanese approval of U.S. beef. The campaign will be coordinated closely with our U.S. industry and USDA partners so that a unified voice of reason will be heard in Japan rather than a divided chorus open to exploitation by detractors.

Russia                                                                                           

New List Of Approved Pork Plants Online

The new list of pork plants and cold storage facilities approved for export to Russia is now online on the FSIS list of approved plants. Additions have been made to the list and reinspected plants from Region 1 are also included. All establishments involved in slaughtering or storing raw pork intended for export to the Russian Federation must be reviewed by an official of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and listed on the approved plant list.