China asks Japan to help block smuggling of Japanese beef

NARITA, Japan, Jan. 10 (AP) - (Kyodo)—China has asked Japan to implement appropriate measures to prevent travelers from smuggling Japanese beef into China, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
In an extremely rare move, the Chinese government filed the request over a food smuggling issue with the Japanese government in December, they told Kyodo News.
China banned the import of Japanese beef in September 2001 when Japan found its first suspected case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which is thought to cause the fatal human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries notified its Animal Quarantine Service offices across the country late last month to alert airlines and related entities, they said.
As China enjoys an economic boom ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the country's new rich who are conscious of food safety and health benefits are increasingly seeking out Japanese food, they said.
Among Japanese food items popular in China, beef is particularly coveted for its good taste and fetches high prices across the country, they said.
Citing a Xinhua News Agency report on its website, the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo said China's quarantine authorities seized a total of 3 tons of Japanese beef at a Shanghai airport between June and November last year.
It said some of the smugglers systemically bring in Japanese beef by hiding it in pieces of carry-on luggage.
"It is also against the Japanese law to take beef out of Japan without preliminary quarantine checks. We want to thoroughly implement the regulations through the airlines and other entities," a farm ministry official said.