http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3597914
Japanese study questions U-S beef testing methods on mad cow
TOKYO A new study of U-S testing methods has Japanese food safety
regulators questioning the safety of U-S beef.
The Japanese agriculture ministry study concludes that nearly half of
the 20 mad cow cases that have been found in Japan would have gone to
market unnoticed if they had been tested under methods used in the U-S.
The discovery has prompted a Japanese request for more details on the
most recent U-S mad-cow case. U-S authorities last month confirmed that
a 12-year-old Texas-born cow that died last year had tested positive
for mad cow. The first case in the U-S was traced to a cow imported
from Canada.
The new request from Tokyo could delay a Japanese decision to resume
U-S beef imports.
Japan had been the largest overseas market for American beef before
banning all U-S imports after the first case of the disease surfaced in
2003.
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TC