United States, Japanese BSE Technical Working Group Meets

May 21, 2004 -- An important step in restoring beef trade between the United States and Japan occurred this week with the first meeting of the United States/Japanese BSE Technical Working Group in Japan.

?Over the past two days, we and our Japanese counterparts have engaged in a frank and open dialogue on our respective BSE surveillance and control systems,? said Dr. Peter Fernandez, chairman, U.S. BSE Technical Working Group associate administrator with the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Major topics discussed included BSE, specified risk materials, surveillance, feed bans and country-risk categorization.

?We found many areas where we are in agreement, and some areas where further discussion is needed,? said Fernandez. ?This meeting has been very productive and provided a good start to the process.?

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