China is barring beef imports from Japan after a possible case of mad cow disease was found at a Japanese dairy, an agriculture official said on Wednesday.
Rules issued March 1 banning beef from countries with outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, will automatically extend to Japan, said Zhao Weining, an official of the Agriculture Ministry's Livestock and Veterinary Bureau.
“There's no need for a new circular'' covering Japan, Zhao said.
Mad cow disease is thought to cause the fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans who eat infected beef. Victims suffer fatal erosion of brain tissue, leaving the brain spongy.
China hasn't imported meat from Britain since 1986 or from Europe since 1992 because of concerns about mad-cow disease. More than 100 people in Britain have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob.
Thailand, Singapore and South Korea also banned imports of Japanese beef after Japan said Monday it had what could be Asia's first cow with BSE.
Japanese authorities said the 5-year-old Holstein dairy cow was slaughtered and more tests were required for a conclusive diagnosis.
China imports a small amount of Japanese beef, mostly for specialty Japanese restaurants serving foreigners. Most Chinese meat imports come from the US, Brazil and Australia.
(chinadaily.com.cn 09/10/2001)
