April 12, 2004 Jiji Press Ticker Service

Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Mamoru Ishihara made the point at a press conference after the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently turned down a private U.S. firm's plan to voluntarily conduct all-out tests for the brain-wasting disease, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, to resume its beef exports to Japan.

It is regrettable that the U.S. government rejected the plan by Kansas beef producer Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC, a proposal welcomed by Japan as being in line with Japanese consumers' request, Ishihara said.

Japan, the largest buyer of U.S. beef, has been repeatedly calling on the United States to conduct BSE tests for all cows as a prerequisite for lifting its import ban on U.S. beef, which has been in place since the first U.S. case of BSE was found in late December last year.

Creekstone Farms Chief Executive Officer John Stewart has said that his company will consider various options including legal action to challenge the department's rejection of its all-out BSE test plan.