Guest guest Posted May 23, 2002 Report Share Posted May 23, 2002 http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2002052200395.html BSE tests--another industry scare The Asahi Shimbun Dairy farmers are on edge, wondering whose name will be the next associated with mad cow disease. ``I get jolted whenever I get a call from the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives,'' said a dairy farmer in Hokkaido. ``That it's a notification for an infection.'' The farmers' fears stem from the government's mandatory inspections of all cattle for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). And authorities are bolstering the inspection capacity. Farmers are often uneasy when they send their cattle for inspections. They fear their cows could become the nation's fifth confirmed case of the brain-wasting disease. ``The two days after shipping cattle and getting the inspection results are filled with anxiety,'' another cattle rancher in Hokkaido said. In fact, some farmers are so nervous they are withholding high-risk cattle from the tests. Local government officials are taking a cautiously optimistic approach to the testing. ``There's no need to worry. It is not an endemic disease,'' says Jiro Hori, a veterinarian and mayor of Saroma, Hokkaido, where a BSE-infected cow was discovered in November. ``But I have to admit I would be concerned if there is another outbreak,'' he says. Inspectors have tested at least 570,000 beef cattle for BSE. The fourth case of BSE was reported earlier this month. But pundits say they wouldn't be surprised if 30 more cattle are found with the disease, considering the amount of imported meat and bone meal, the suspected source of BSE, that has been consumed. Experts say the absence of positive BSE tests can be attributed, in part, to the stalled shipments of cattle no longer used for milking, which are considered at high risk of carrying the disease. Dairy farmers, fearing potential BSE-related damage to their businesses, are reluctant to ship such cattle. According to agriculture ministry estimates in February, farmers kept 58,000 of the aging cattle on their farms, an increase from 44,000 late last year. The government started buying aging dairy cattle at 40,000 yen per head, but Japan Agriculture affiliates in 25 prefectures told ministry inspectors that they were ``restraining'' shipments. Food processing plants are also reluctant to accept dairy cattle past their prime because those factories would have to temporarily close down if BSE is detected. Only 12 prefectures told the ministry they were willing to accept such cattle. Experts are also concerned that most of the cows that died and were then shipped for processing were not examined for BSE. The number of such cows tops 160,000 every year. In Europe, BSE is 30 times more likely to be found in dead dairy cows compared with beef cattle. Unless the dead cows are examined, the entire BSE picture cannot be grasped, and this situation could lead to international distrust, experts warn. But in such cities like Saroma and Sarufutsu, dead cattle are immediately shipped for processing because farmers cannot afford to keep aged cows on their premises. ``All we can do now is deal with an infection if it is found,'' says Yoshimi Kudo, a division chief at Saroma's agricultural cooperative. ``What really hurts is that consumption isn't recovering. With the lack of successors for farmers and the BSE scare, seven farms were forced to close shop in the past year.'' A food-processing plant in Teshio, a town near Sarufutsu, Hokkaido, was also on the brink of suspending its business in February. The company, barely breaking even, was hit hard by the BSE scare. The plant continues operating with the backing of residents, but if it is forced to suspend business, it must transport cattle to Asahikawa, 250 kilometers away, at a cost of 10,000 yen per head. Cattle undergo a two-step inspection; the first study is conducted by local governments and the next one double-checks the results. Considering the disease's dormant period, an additional seven years are necessary for the inspection process, and local governments are increasing the number of inspectors to prepare for the long campaign against BSE. Chiba Prefecture, where the first BSE case was found, established a ``BSE section'' within its food-safety inspection office in April. Still, only four facilities are able to conduct the second round of inspections: Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the quarantine offices in Yokohama and Kobe. Morikazu Shinagawa, a professor at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine and head of the health ministry's group of BSE experts, must conduct his own inspections while trying to help others whenever suspicious data pops up. To make future inspections smoother, the health ministry plans to approve inspections at local governments as soon as preparations are completed. If that plan is realized, inspectors could crank out results faster. Already, 16 prefectures and two cities plan to set up their own inspection systems. Household beef consumption nose-dived below half the level of last year, just before inspections started. The number is slowly recovering, but still remains at 70 percent of last year's level. Meat distributors, meanwhile, started emphasizing ``safety,'' in response to lingering consumer fears. The National Federation of Agricultural Co-operatives Associations, or Zen-noh, along with supermarkets and department stores, developed a tracking system that traces the origin, feed and medication history of meat. Aeon Co., a partner of Zen-noh, installed a computer system in its Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, store that scans the products' origin. Aeon plans to install the system in 30 stores by July. The retailer also made available a copy of an inspection certificate, as well as photos of farms, since last November at all of its 267 stores. ``I feel more secure if they give us this much information,'' said a 25-year-old homemaker who bought beef for the first time in six months. Department store Ito-Yokado Co. stopped placing stickers of the meat producers' on its meat packages in April. ``Consumers are starting to feel comfortable again,'' a company official said.(IHT/Asahi: May 22,2002) LAUNCH - Your Music Experience http://launch. 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