Japan Tries to Reassure on Beef

By SCOTT STODDARD Associated Press Writer

September 28, 2001, 6:36 AM EDT

TOKYO -- The government said Friday it will provide financial help to struggling cattle ranchers while scrambling to convince consumers that Japanese meat and dairy products are safe after Asia's first case of mad cow disease was confirmed last week.

Tokyo will provide subsidies and low-interest loans to ranchers and meat processors to compensate them for late deliveries and the possible slaughter of animals suspected of coming in contact with the disease, Agriculture Ministry officials said.

Japanese authorities announced last Saturday that a Holstein dairy cow in central Japan was confirmed to have the brain-wasting illness. It's not known how the cow contracted the disease, though investigators are focusing on animal feed as the likely cause. The cow was slaughtered in August.

In an effort to restore public confidence in Japanese meat and dairy products, the government is rushing to check all of the nation's 4.53 million cows for the sickness, which is believed to cause a deadly disease in humans who eat infected meat.

So far, 95 percent of the herd has been confirmed disease-free, with the remainder to be tested by the end of this month, Takehiko Endo, vice minister of the Agriculture Ministry, told a gathering of prefectural (state) agriculture officials.

"I want issue a declaration of safety as soon as possible," Endo said.

To convince consumers that the meat is safe, Japan's tripartite ruling coalition said it will host a beef-eating party on Tuesday. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been asked to attend but it wasn't clear whether he plans to do so.

The government, meanwhile, said it is drafting stricter testing guidelines due in mid-October, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement. The ministry has been criticized for being lax in preventing the disease from entering Japan.

As part of its tougher stance, the Agriculture Ministry said it will impose a maximum penalty of about $2,500 in fines and three years in prison for any rancher who recycles meat and bones from infected animals back into cattle feed.

Known formally as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the mad cow disease has devastated Europe's cattle industry and is thought to cause the fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

The discovery of mad cow disease in Japan is dealing a further blow to the country's cattle breeders, whose earnings were already falling as consumers concerned about overseas outbreaks of mad cow disease stay away from beef.

News reports have said that some of the nation's schools have stopped serving milk and beef in their cafeterias. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2001