Japan lifts 23-year ban on British beef after fears of mad cow disease finally put to rest

Japan has lifted a ban on importing British beef – 23 years on from its introduction after an outbreak of the devastating bovine illness dubbed mad cow disease.

The Asian nation banned all imports of UK beef in 1996 after an outbreak of the disease, medically called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Thought to cause the fatal Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob (VCJ) disease in humans, the outbreak devastated the British farming industry in the 1990s with more than four million cattle slaughtered to stop its spread.

But on the eve of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the UK, Japan’s health ministry announced it had “decided to restart import procedures of British beef and bovine organs now”.

The decision was made after Japan’s health ministry consulted with the British government and conducted a field survey on beef samples from the UK.

Britain has long insisted its beef is safe for other countries to export, and the EU lifted a similar ban after 10 years in 2006.

Abe’s visit comes months before Britain leaves the EU in March. The bloc sealed a free trade agreement in December, which sees Japan’s tariffs on European beef imports reduce from 28.5 per cent to nine per cent over the next 15 years.

If Britain struck a similar deal after leaving the EU, today’s announcement would present a new export opportunity for UK beef farmers.

Setting off for a visit to the Netherlands today before coming to the UK on Thursday, Abe told reporters it was “extremely worthwhile” talking about the risk of a no deal Brexit with May.

However, the ban is not universal. The Japanese health ministry added beef from cows over the age of 30 months would still not be allowed into Japan, nor would certain body parts including the spinal cord – thought to have a higher risk of carrying the disease – if they were more than 12 months old.

The decision follows a similar announcement from China last summer, which lifted its ban on UK beef imports in June.

In October, the Scottish government confirmed a case of mad cow disease on a farm in Aberdeenshire, causing movement restrictions to be put in place at the farm while further investigations were carried out.