The farm ministry said Monday that Nippon Meat Packers Inc. and its scandal-tainted subsidiary can resume their beef-related operations because it has deemed as acceptable the group's steps to prevent further fraud targeting the government's beef buyback subsidies.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry also said it has found no evidence of additional fraud in its latest inspections of beef packages submitted by the subsidiary, Nippon Food Inc., under the buyback scheme, which was introduced to compensate beef producers for losses stemming from last September's outbreak of mad cow disease in domestic cattle.
Nippon Meat, better known as Nippon Ham, has suspended its beef-related operations under ministry pressure since Aug. 14, following revelations that Nippon Food falsely labeled imported beef as domestic to get the state buyback subsidies.