Japan May Ease Mad Cow Testing

Japan’s food safety panel on Monday recommended that the government stop testing cattle younger than 21 months for mad cow disease, a step toward making U.S. beef eligible for import after a 15-month ban.

Japan banned U.S. beef in December 2003 after the United States found its first mad cow case. Tokyo, seeking to soothe worries at home about a domestic mad cow outbreak, has refused to reopen its market to U.S. beef products until Washington adopts blanket testing for the disease.

However, the Food Safety Commission’s scientific experts said research had shown that rogue proteins linked to the disease don’t show up in tests on cattle younger than 21 months, and that easing the testing standards wouldn’t put consumers at risk.

Since discovering its first case of mad cow disease in 2001, Japan has tested every cow slaughtered as food for the bovine illness to reassure consumers jittery about food safety.

Monday’s panel ruling marked the first time Japanese experts have agreed with the assessment of U.S. scientists -- a key step that allows Tokyo to begin debating standards for U.S. beef imports. However, the Japanese experts didn’t discuss U.S. beef Monday.

The panel also acknowledged that not enough was known about the disease, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, to rule out all risk.