Japan Bans Beef from Brazil over BSE Case from 2 Years Ago

Brazil Aggressively Working on Getting Ban on Beef Lifted

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Japan recently announced that it has banned imports of beef products from Brazil after a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) also more commonly known as ‘mad cow’ disease was confirmed from a carcass of a cow that died two years ago.

Despite the ban, the impact is expected to be minimal since Japan doesn’t import a significant amount of beef from Brazil. In 2011, Japan only imported 1,400 tons of beef which accounted for 0.3% of the total amount of beef exports.

The World Animal Health Organization notified Japanese officials of the BSE case on Saturday that a 13-year-old cow that died in Dec. 2010 was infected with the disease.

Brazil is currently working on getting the ban lifted; citing that it was an extreme reaction of Japan given the cow has been dead for two years and never died from the disease.

The Brazilian government is worried that if the situation is not dealt with quickly, that other nations might follow suit. Brazil is the second-largest exporter of beef.