Top government officials said Saturday they would lodge protests with the United States after it was found that lack of knowledge on the part of an inspector allowed a banned material that poses a risk of mad cow disease to be included in a shipment of beef to Japan.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said he will file a protest over the fiasco when he meets with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick in Tokyo this week.
"I will convey our sense of protest," Abe said at a public appearance in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.