When Japan lifts its ban on U.S. beef, it should limit imports to those from slaughterhouses that have been inspected by the Japanese government, the head of a government panel looking into beef safety said in a recent interview.
Japan should be allowed to conduct stricter inspections on such facilities than in the past as a condition for lifting the ban, said Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, a University of Tokyo professor who heads the beef safety task force under the Cabinet Office's Food Safety Commission.
He said U.S. slaughterhouses should have separate processing lines for beef for Japan because U.S. and Japanese rules differ on removing specific parts that could transmit mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.