Japan could introduce a total ban as early as Monday on imports of meat-and-bone meal, an animal feed suspected of transmitting mad cow disease, the nation's agriculture minister said Friday.

"We are holding discussions with other ministries on matters including whether it would be possible to implement a ban (on Monday)," Tsutomu Takebe told reporters following a Cabinet meeting. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry sources said, however, that the ban could actually take effect several days later than Monday considering the time needed to make adjustments with countries that export the meal.

Meat-and-bone meal is a protein feed made from the crushed internal organs, skin and bones of cows.

Takebe also said supply of domestically produced meal will be restricted to mitigate fears among farmers and consumers about the disease.

"We will consider incinerating products made from cows and providing subsidies to cover the costs," he said.

The farm minister again admitted that the government failed to adequately deal with mad cow disease due to a lack of coordination between the agriculture ministry and the health ministry.

He said the public confusion over Japan's first outbreak of mad cow disease "would not have happened had we been working together."

A Holstein at a farm in Chiba Prefecture that earlier this month was suspected of having mad cow disease was later confirmed by a British government agency to have the fatal brain-wasting malady.

On Friday, the farm ministry gathered around 157 representatives of organizations from consumer, livestock, food processing and distribution industries, to explain the events related to the outbreak. It was the second time the ministry held such a meeting.

Representatives from the meat-related organizations said they wanted the ministry to announce soon that all products are safe.

However, representatives from the consumer-related organizations said public trust in the health and agriculture ministries has been damaged.

"Considering the past delay in providing information, we will not be able to trust (the government), even if an announcement were to be made that products are safe," a representative of one organization said.