Agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Tuesday that a Japanese translation of a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on the U.S. beef inspection process should be made available to Diet members and the general public.
Nakagawa said he will seek further explanations from Washington after the public is fully informed about the report.
The report was drawn up by USDA following the discovery of backbone in a shipment of veal to Japan, a designated risk material for transmitting mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
The report admitted a flaw in the U.S. inspection system for beef exports and promised measures to correct the problem.
Nakagawa said the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry will present the 475-page report to the Food Safety Commission and other bodies concerned after it has thoroughly studied it.
Regarding issues such as how the risk material found its way to Japan and what the United States intends to do to prevent a recurrence, the minister said, "Questions concerning these matters are expected to be asked in the Diet. and elsewhere, so we hope to make such queries to Washington later and on more than one occasion."
