Japan beef safety discussions with U S not over

TOKYO, Mar 29 (Reuters) Japan still has matters to discuss with the United States after talks on beef safety issues aimed at trying to reopen trade worth more than 1 billion dollars a year, a Japanese official today said.

The two governments held an expert-level meeting in Tokyo at the request of the United States, which is pressing for the reopening of the Japanese market, the largest overseas destination for U S beef.

''We have not yet solved the problems and we still have things to discuss with the United States,'' Hirofumi Kugita, an official of Japan's agriculture ministry who attended the talks, told reporters.

Japan suspended U S beef imports on January 20, just a month after it partially lifted a two-year-old ban on U S beef imposed over mad cow disease fears, when Japanese inspectors discovered banned spinal material in a veal shipment from New York.

Consumers in Japan remain deeply worried about the brain-wasting mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Experts believe eating contaminated meat can cause a human variant of the disease, which has been blamed for the deaths of more than 160 people worldwide, including one in Japan.

Before the initial ban, Japan was the top importer of U S beef, buying 240,000 tonnes valued at 1.4 billion dollars in 2003.

Charles Lambert, acting undersecretary for marketing at the U S Department of Agriculture, told reporters at a separate news conference that no date has been set for the restart of trade.

''There is no absolute date certain, but this is consistent with the step-wise process of moving forward ... towards the re-establishment of trade,'' he said.

There was a discrepancy in perception between the two parties, however, about whether all issues have been cleared.

''Based on my understanding ... we have addressed all of the concerns and have essentially agreed on all of the measures,'' Lambert said.

He added that no date has been set for a next meeting.

The USDA has said that the veal shipment was an isolated incident, and does not reflect any faults about the U S beef processing system.

Japanese government officials have said, however, that the incident has raised doubts about the reliability of U S safeguards and the safety of its beef.

Lambert was also asked about the U S government's position on a lawsuit filed by a U S meatpacker, which wants to test all its cattle for mad cow disease.

Lambert said that the U S government remained unchanged on its position that universal testing for mad cow disease is not needed.

''Our position has been and is that we would not recognise that option,'' he said.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC wants to test all its slaughtered cattle for mad cow disease, and last week sued the U S government for access to cattle testing kits.

The Kansas farm used to export beef to Japan before the ban.

Japan has dropped a requirement for the testing of all domestic cattle for BSE, and has also dropped a request for the U.S. to adopt blanket testing.

REUTERS SB DS1312