Feds Stand By Tyson Foods
Last updated Tuesday, April 24, 2007 5:59 PM CDT in Business
The Morning News
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has denied a Japanese request to remove a Nebraska beef processing facility owned by Tyson Foods Inc. from a list of plants authorized for Japanese export.
In February, Japan stopped beef imports from a Lexington, Neb., packing plant operated by Springdale-based Tyson Foods after finding boxes of beef that did not contain the proper age verification of 20 months old or younger, as required by Japan.
Although the USDA declined the Japanese request, the Tyson Foods plant remains under voluntary suspension, said USDA spokeswoman Amanda Eamich.
Corrective measures have begun at the Lexington plant and the company supplies Japan through its other six beef processing plants, said Tyson Foods spokesman Gary Mickelson.
The USDA also announced Tuesday that U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has approved Japan's request to conduct additional audits of U.S. beef processing plants. Once the Japanese verification process is finished, Japan will discontinue its cumbersome requirement to inspect all boxes of beef shipped from the United States, Johanns said.
Japan has been skittish about foreign beef since the first case of mad cow disease was found in the United States in December 2003.
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