Japan Lifts Ban on U.S. Beef

Japan lifted a two-year ban on U.S. and Canadian beef imports, paving the way for meatpackers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. to reclaim a share of a $1.7-billion market.

The U.S. and Canada have accepted conditions for resuming the beef trade, Japan’s Agriculture ministry said.

Japan had barred U.S. beef in December 2003, after the first of two cases of mad-cow disease was reported. The country had been the biggest buyer of U.S. beef products, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Australia stepped into the breach, grabbing 89% of the Japanese imported beef market.

Lifting the ban ends an exhaustive process that drew the ire of some U.S. lawmakers, who threatened trade sanctions.

Japan’s Food Safety Commission had ruled last month that the risk of mad-cow disease in U.S. beef was “very small,” provided certain conditions were met. Those include that imported U.S. beef come from cattle no older than 20 months and that spinal cords, brains and other parts blamed for spreading the human variant of mad-cow disease be removed.