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Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosada said Wednesday that
the report delivered by the independent Food Safety Commission
calling the risk of U.S. beef carrying bovine spongiform
encephalopathy in Japan extremely low if all import safeguards
are followed "gave us a bright outlook." Hosada said that
the report is not complete, but the partial report seemed
favorable to resuming imports in the near future. The report
is expected to be completed this fall, and if it recommends
resuming imports, it would be subject to a 30-day public
comment period before a date could be set to reopen the
market.
American exporters are hardly clicking their heels. Philip
Seng, chief executive of the U.S. Meat Export Federation
has predicted that it will be 2010 before the U.S. can take
back its former market share, and that initial exports will
be very low due to domination of the market by Australia,
new competition from Canada, and leeriness of Japanese consumers
to try American beef again.
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