Japan to resume beef exports to Hong Kong after more than 5 years

Japan will resume beef exports to Hong Kong this week for the first time in more than five years after the Chinese territory banned the meat due to a mad cow scare in Japan, an official said Wednesday.

Japan's first case of mad cow disease was detected in September 2001.

Hong Kong's ban on Japanese beef will be lifted on Friday, Shiro Inukai of the Livestock Industry Department with the Agriculture Ministry said.

Hong Kong's decision to resume beef shipments came after a "thorough assessment" and an agreement that Japan would provide enhanced control measures against the disease, officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety said Tuesday, according to Inukai.

However, Hong Kong will initially allow only boneless beef from cattle aged 30 months or younger, with high risk materials such as brain and spinal cord removed during slaughtering, Hong Kong's CFS said in a statement.

Hong Kong will be the third destination to lift an import ban on Japanese beef after the United States and Canada, Inukai said.

Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka welcomed the agreement as a step toward resuming Japanese beef exports to elsewhere in Asia.

"I expect (the step) would provide momentum to further promote export of high quality agricultural and dairy products of our country," he said, indicating hopes to speed up talks to resume beef exports to Singapore and Taiwan.

Before the ban, Hong Kong was the largest importer of Japanese beef. The Chinese territory imported about 60 tons of Japanese beef in 2000, Inukai said.

Citing concerns about mad cow disease, Japan imposed tight controls on U.S. beef imports, allowing cuts only from cattle aged 20 months or younger. Japanese and U.S. officials have yet to reach an accord on whether it is possible to ease that age limit.