Japan Press Weekly

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2012 October 31 - November 6 [AGRICULTURE]

Are US beef under 30-month old with risky parts remaining safe to eat?

The Food Safety Commission of Japan is proposing that the government import U.S. beef of up to 30-month old without specified risk materials removed. Are they really safe to eat?

Ogura Masayuki, an author of several books about food safety, expressed his concerns to Akahata on November 1 as follows:

It was only in April this year when a BSE-infected cow was discovered in the United States. Reportedly, the cow was infected with an undifferentiated-type of BSE whose abnormal prions have different characteristics from already known BSEs and the transmission route is still unknown.

Relaxing the rule from the present 20 months to 30 months could pass over the discovery of atypical BSE-positive from young cattle since a similar case was already found even in a 23-month-old domestically grown cattle.

The Commission okays imports of risky parts of under 30-month-old cows. The endorsement, however, aroused controversy among prion experts because they knew that in an experiment feeding prion-disordered brain parts to 56 calves, the subjects were found out to have aberrant prions in the brain tissue in 28 months.

Japan conducts tests on all domestic beef, but the United States conducts BSE-surveillance testing on only 0.13% of cattle.

Many countries in the world are now strengthening ruminant feeding restrictions as a counter-BSE measure, leading to a decline in the incidence of infection. On the other hand, the U.S. administration did not have the strict BSE feed-related control measures implemented until 2009.

It is said that irregular forms of BSE can be infectious to humans. The situation causing such forms of BSE is still unknown. The U.S. still neglects to introduce beef traceability. All these points are calling into question the safety of U.S. beef.