Countries across Asia banned the import of United States beef products on Wednesday after a cow on a Washington state farm tested positive for mad cow disease.
Japan, the number-one importer of US beef, imposed an indefinite ban and planned to recall certain meat products already on the market, while South Korea, the number-two importer, halted customs inspections of US beef and suspended sales for meat already on supermarket shelves.
Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and Taiwan followed suit.
The moves in Asia came only hours after the US government announced that a Holstein cow had tested positive for mad cow disease, marking the disease’s first suspected appearance in the US.
The immediate reaction also reflected the widespread use of US beef in Asia, where American eating habits — evidenced by the proliferation of fast-food outlets — have gained tremendous popularity in recent decades.
Exporters in Australia, a major beef exporter in Asia, stood to gain. Stock in beef exporter Australian Agricultural Company jumped nearly 13% on Wednesday in anticipation of new sales opportunities.
Australia also placed a temporary hold on US beef imports ”pending more information”, Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said on Wednesday. Australia only imports beef extract and dairy products from the US.
Japan’s Agriculture Ministry said its ban applied to beef and beef products and took effect immediately.
”We must ban beef imports from the US for the time being,” said Health Minister Chikara Sakaguchi. ”We must recall products that include so-called ‘dangerous parts’ such as brains and spinal cords.”
Japan is the largest overseas market in value terms for US beef. Exports totalled $842-million in 2002, accounting for 32% of the market for US exports, according to the US Meat Export Federation. South Korea is number two in value, with $610-million. Mexico, the top importer of US beef in volume terms, was third in value in 2002, a federation official in Seoul said.
Japanese authorities have been especially leery about mad cow disease since the nation’s herds suffered the first recorded outbreak of the disease in Asia in September 2001, causing meat consumption to plunge. Consumption, however, has since rebounded.
Tokyo moved ahead with the ban despite assurances from US officials that the American beef supply was safe. Japan banned the import of Canadian beef after a single case of the disease was confirmed in Ottawa on May 20, and Tokyo had expressed concern that some Canadian beef could slip into Japan via the US.
The ban on US imports comes as Japan is still grappling with doubts about its domestic beef supply. The country quarantined 604 cows in October to prevent the spread of the disease after authorities confirmed that a 23-month-old bull had a new strain of the bovine illness — the nation’s eighth case.
The move raised fresh questions about tighter screening procedures implemented since the September 2001 case.
While fresh imports have been banned, there was no widespread rush to pull American beef from supermarket shelves. A spokesperson at Ito-Yokado, Japan’s largest supermarket chain, said the retailer had faith in the safety of the beef already on its shelves and would sell its stocks.
Ito-Yokado imports its US beef from herds in the midwest, far from where the infected Holstein was discovered in Washington state, the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity. The Aeon chain, however, said it was going to pull American beef from its shelves.
There also didn’t appear to be much panic at Yoshinoya, a ”gyu-don” meat and rice restaurant chain where 99% of the beef is American.
”I knew about it, but when you get sick, you get sick,” Naoki Enokida, a 32-year-old salesperson for electronics company, said about the US beef scare after lunching at Yoshinoya in Tokyo. ”If people continue to make a big fuss about it, then I may stop coming here.”
The US supplied 46,5% of Japan’s beef imports in 2002, or 226 524 tons, second only to Australia. There was wide speculation in Japan that the ban would cause major bottlenecks for restaurants and other importers as they scrambled to find other suppliers.
The mad cow scare was already taking a toll on restaurant stocks in Japan. Yoshinoya shares plunged 9,4%, and stocks of Reins International, which operates a chain of Korean barbecue restaurants, sank 9,7%. McDonald’s Japan, which said it exclusively serves Australian beef, lost 3,1%.
In Singapore, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said that if the mad cow disease case is confirmed in the US, the country will not import American beef again until Washington certifies that it has been free of the disease for six years.
Taiwan said US beef could face a seven-year export ban.
Thailand’s Department of Livestock Development said it has banned imports of beef from the US. Malaysia’s Department of Veterinary Services said an immediate ban had been established as a ”precautionary step”.
Mad cow disease, known also as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, eats holes in the brains of cattle. It sprang up in Britain in 1986 and spread through countries in Europe and Asia, prompting massive destruction of herds and decimating the European beef industry. — Sapa-AP