America’s beef with Japanese trade

Do you remember the story from April about Creekstone Farms, the American beef producer that tests each slaughtered animal for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)? The US Department of Agriculture prohibits Creekstone from advertising that it tests each cow, for the stated reason that consumers might be misled into thinking that untested beef is not safe.

The Creekstone Farms story had some play in the New York Times in April, round about page 14 or 15, and then faded from view in the United States. It was (I learned today) front page news in Japan, which banned imports of USA beef after BSE was discovered in an animal in Washington.

The United States is negotiating to get American beef allowed back into Japan. (Japan imports a lot of beef; it grows half, or less, of the beef that it consumes.) The USDA is insisting that testing each cow is a “feel-good” measure that doesn’t appreciably increase safety. Negotiations are taking place between the United States and Japan about beef imports at what is said to be “the Secretary level”, and the United States side hopes to get American beef allowed into Japan again by July, or to have some other announcement of progress.

Here’s an idea that I stole from Peter Glen’s book, It’s Not My Department!. His principle was that businesses should find out what the customer wants, and give it to them, just that way. We know that the Japanese customers want tested beef — even if the testing is (h’m) overkill. Some of our producers can test each head of cattle; they’re doing it right now. So let’s provide it.