Japan bans all imports of meat-and-bone meal

Reuters, Tokyo

Japan's Agriculture Ministry said on Monday it would impose a temporary ban on all imports of meat-and-bone meal (MBM) from Thursday following the country's first outbreak of mad cow disease.

The country will also ban the use of imported as well as domestically produced MBM in animal feed and fertilizer, the ministry said.

The case was made public on Sept.10 after a Holstein dairy cow on a farm in Chiba near Tokyo tested positive and later tests in Britain confirmed the outbreak of mad cow disease, the first in Asia.

The disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is believed to be transmitted via infected feed.

Earlier this year, Japan banned all cattle-related products from the European Union, but it had previously imported animal feedstuff, including MBM, from Britain and other EU nations.

Last year, Japan imported 184,000 tons of MBM. It currently imports MBM from the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

Japan produces 300,000-400,000 tons of MBM a year.

With the ban on the use of MBM, the domestic livestock industry is expected to replace the animal protein feed with more expensive soymeal or fishmeal, industry sources said.