By Jessie Weisner

Restriction lifted for Canadian beef exported to Japan

May 22, 2019 | 2:44 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The last restriction on the 2005 bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis have been lifted.

Japan will now import beef from cattle more than 30 months old, marking an end on restrictions that have been in place for 14 years.

Restrictions on beef more than 30 months were in place following the discovery of BSE, also known as mad cow disease, in Canadian cattle.

Following a G20 Agricultural Ministers Meeting and trade visit to Japan, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Marie-Claude Bibeau and Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, announced Canada had secured the market expansion.

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The end to those restrictions is significant for the beef sector where Japan is the third largest trading partner, and where exports totalled roughly $215 million in 2018.

According to James MacLean, vice-president of Porter and MacLean livestock in Medicine Hat, local producers will likely benefit from the decision.

“Every time we get a new customer, usually slowly but surely filters back into our producers pockets,” says MacLean. “So hopefully we see some increase in value here and it just gives us one more option to market the product that we’re building.”

The lifting of the restrictions could also further increase beef exports by 20 percent.