Japan Says U.S. Mad Cow Safeguards Lax

[kayell]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040105/ap_on_re_as/mad_cow_japan_1

TOKYO - Japan questioned the effectiveness of U.S. safeguards against mad cow disease on Monday, suggesting Tokyo would hold out for stricter screening of livestock before lifting an import ban on American beef.

Following the discovery of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, the United States announced new restrictions on beef aimed at keeping cow brains, eyes, spinal cords, small intestines and the meat of cows that can't walk or stand from entering the food supply.

But vice agriculture minister, Yoshiaki Watanabe, indicated U.S. action hasn't quieted concerns in Japan about the safety of American beef. "They are not as effective as steps being taken in Japan," he told a news conference on Monday.

snip

On Monday, Japan's agriculture ministry said it plans to send envoys to Australia and New Zealand this week to ask about buying more of their beef.


Japan imports about two-thirds of its beef, and around 47 percent of that, or more than 226,000 tons, came from the United States last year. The rest comes mostly from Australia and New Zealand, neither of which has had a reported case of mad cow disease.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. When I told a connie the consequences of this

his reaction, let them eat fish, ok, there goes a billion a year
market

[kayell]

2. Typical Bushite answer

"Ya don't like the way we do things? Screw you! We're America, we can do anything we damn well like, any damn way we like." The very same attitude that turned a world wide outpouring of sympathy into world wide scorn.
-----------
What is a connie?

[Art_from_Ark]

3. "Connie" = "Conservative"

"Let them eat fish" indeed! What a maroon!

[Zech Marquis]

4. that moran

japanese already eat LOTS of fish,but that freeper wuldn't know that if Jaws came up and bit him in the ass :evilgrin:

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

5. Japan

will get it's way.
The customer is always right. Besides, the way they strip meat off spines splatters that nasty stuff all over anyways.

from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/154256_consumer27.html

"A slaughterhouse machine that blasts the last bits of flesh off cattle carcasses already relieved of their more recognizable cuts of beef is coming under increased scrutiny as the discovery of mad cow disease in Washington raises questions about the safety of the nation's food supply.
The machinery, known as Advanced Meat Recovery, sometimes also strips off spinal cord tissue, which can slip into the food supply unknown to the consumer.
A cow's central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, are the most likely to contain the misshapen proteins that most scientists believe cause mad cow disease.
Those pulpy pieces of tissue fill out any number of processed foods, including hamburgers, hot dogs, sausage and pizza toppings. They're also reduced down to add flavoring to beef bouillon and stock.

Consumer groups have been warning about the potential dangers looming in some of America's favorite foods since the outbreak of mad cow disease in England and Europe, where AMR has since been banned.

"We warned the government many times that this is a gaping hole in the system," said Smith DeWaal. "Since 1997 they said you don't need to worry about this because we don't have mad cow disease here."

Before the carcass is put through the mechanical system, the spinal cord is removed and another machine sucks the remaining cord and fluid out of the cavity, according to Rosemary Mucklow, executive director of the National Meat Association.

"The spinal cord is removed on the kill floor," said Mucklow. "It might retain a little nerve ending tissue. But this industry removes that spinal cord very thoroughly."
Still, a 2002 U.S. Food and Drug Administration survey found that 33 percent of the meat products sampled from AMR production had traces of spinal cord tissue.
Last year, the agency stepped up efforts to monitor spinal tissue remnants, announcing the beginning of routine sampling of AMR meat products.
If spinal tissue is detected, the slaughterhouse's machinery is flagged and the meat goes out with a special label reading, "mechanically separated beef," and still can be sold to consumers. The label, however, does not say the spinal cord tissue could be part of the package, according to Smith DeWaal.
And without consumer labeling that clearly marks the products as containing spinal tissue, meat eaters can't make informed choices about which beef parts to avoid.

"As we talked to the USDA about this, they told us this is a quality issue, it's not a safety issue," said Smith DeWaal.



Yea, our meat is safe alright, all these firewalls and safeguards, I feel soooo secure.