Japan Jumps on Mad Cow Crackdown

The Japanese government asked the nation’s food manufacturers to stop using ingredients made from animal parts most likely to carry mad cow disease and to recall immediately all products suspected of containing such items.

In a non-binding directive sent Friday to 170 industry associations, the Health Ministry asked food manufacturers to check if their products contained traces of cattle brain, spinal cord, eyes or pieces of small intestine--parts where scientists believe the brain-wasting disease resides, ministry spokesman Akira Miki said.

Products subject to the inspection will include processed foods made of beef extract: soup stock, curry mix, instant noodles and health foods containing bone meal. Cosmetics are not included.

Although the directive is not legally binding, the ministry plans to publicize the names of companies that ignore it.

Japan announced Sept. 10 that it had found a dairy cow suspected of having the brain-wasting disease--Asia’s first known case.

Since then, the nation’s agriculture and health officials have drawn criticism for being too lax and slow in taking action.

The government last Monday banned distribution of feed made from meat-and-bone meal, but farmers across the country have given meat-and-bone feed to thousands of cattle, the financial daily Nihon Keizai newspaper quoted government officials as saying.

Health officials have received a surge of inquiries from Japanese consumers about the safety of beef, dairy products and food containing beef extracts. Many Japanese shoppers are staying away from meat counters, and several countries have banned imports of Japanese beef.

Scientists have found links between beef infected with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is fatal to humans.

Feed made from the ground bones and meat of infected animals is blamed for spreading mad cow in Europe.