WASHINGTON (Kyodo) U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced Friday the completion of a report into how an inspection failure allowed banned material to find its way into a U.S. beef shipment to Japan, and said measures will be taken to prevent a recurrence.
In a news conference, Johanns reiterated his regret and apology while admitting the failure on the U.S. part to comply with an agreement with Japan, but again stressed the shipped beef had no safety risk under the U.S. safeguard standards on mad cow disease.
But the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an attached audit report that the USDA's compliance enforcement "broke down" due to insufficient communication with field inspectors.