Japan won't budge on Canadian beef ban

Japan's agriculture minister isn't budging on his country's ban of Canadian beef.

Yoshiyuki Kamei and Lyle Vanclief, Canada's agriculture minister, met Tuesday at a World Trade Organization conference in Montreal.

Vanclief said he tried to convince Kamei that science was on Canada's side. Vanclief outlined all the steps Canada has taken to ensure the safety of Canadian beef.

"In just about every case we've been ahead of what's been happening and what has happened in the last few years in Japan."

A single cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease, was discovered in northern Alberta on May 20.

• FROM MAY 20, 2003: Beef industry stunned by mad cow case

More than 2,700 cattle were slaughtered, but no other cases of the disease were found. The infected animal never made it into the food chain.

Japan had its own mad cow scare a few years ago. Kamei said it started with one case, but rigorous inspection turned up seven infected animals.

Japan has gone to enormous lengths to restore confidence in its beef industry among that country's consumers, Kamei said. He said discussions with experts make him believe Canada hasn't been as rigorous.

If Japan doesn't open its borders to Canadian beef, it's unlikely the vast, lucrative U.S. market will reopen for Canada.

The Japanese have told the U.S. it wants country-of-origin labelling by Sept. 1 to differentiate U.S. from Canadian beef.

Canadian officials have protested, saying the two countries' cattle industries are too tightly integrated for that to be practical.

Canadian Wheat Board Minister Ralph Goodale sounded off on the BSE issue Tuesday.

• RELATED STORY: Goodale blasts trade partners on beef ban

"It's painfully obvious: You cannot count on science or fairness, so you better not test your cattle and you better not report any diseases, because the results will be devastating," he wrote in a letter to Saskatchewan news editors.