(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The Japanese Embassy in Muscat has said that beef imports from Japan will get a boost after Oman lifted the 12-year ban recently.
In a Ministerial Decision No 137/2014, issued on May 21, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoAF) lifted the ban on import of live cows and cow products from Japan.
It also cancelled the Ministerial Decision No 3/2002, according to which the ban was put in place initially.
A senior official in the economic section at the Japanese Embassy said that the ban came into effect in 2002 due to spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, in Japan in 2001.
''However, after the effort from the farms and the government, we don't find any BSE cows in Japan after 2003,'' said the official.
On why it took so long to revoke the ban, the official said that the ban came into effect in 2002 and the Japanese Government wanted to make the country ‘negligible BSE risk'
''We actually got the certificate for being a ‘negligible BSE risk' country by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in May, 2013,'' she said.
With the lifting of ban, the official said it will open up the market for Japanese beef. ''Japan has one of the best qualities of beef in the world, for instance the Kobe beef. We expect this new measure will boost imports from Japan.''
The ministerial decision however lays down certain conditions for the importing country to fulfill, like following all the conditions stipulated in the Quarantine Law and the executive statute of the Quarantine Law.
It further states that the import would be allowed only after Japan follows OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code (the Terrestrial Code), which sets out standards for the improvement of animal health and welfare and veterinary public health worldwide, including thorough standards for safe international trade in terrestrial animals (mammals, birds and bees) and their products.
The health measures in the Terrestrial Code are used by the veterinary authorities of importing and exporting countries to provide for early detection, reporting and control agents pathogenic to animals or humans, and to prevent their transfer via international trade in animals and animal products, while avoiding unjustified sanitary barriers to t
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