Following a four-year ban that stemmed from the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2003, Japan's largest supermarket chain has announced that it has resumed sales of U.S. beef.

Aeon Co. said in a press release it will purchase on a monthly basis product exclusively produced by Lincoln, Neb.-based Premium Protein Products. The first shipment amounted to roughly 20 metric tons, the company said.

Premium Protein Products CEO Steve Sands told Meatingplace.com the second shipment is "on the water" and is "considerably larger," though he declined to specify the amount. While it is Premium Protein's first business transaction with Aeon in four years, the company has been regularly exporting beef to Japan since its market reopened, he said.

"We have a good track record in Japan since the market has reopened," Sands said. "They've inspected our facilities, our feedlots and our suppliers. They spent quite a bit of time looking at a number of U.S. packers; they were just comfortable that our systems could deliver on their expectations."

Premium Protein operates one slaughter facility in Hastings, Neb., that has a capacity to process 500 head of cattle per day.

Aeon said its decision comes after implementing an inspection system that meets its standards. And given the yen is strong and the U.S. dollar is weak, the company can offer U.S. beef at cheaper prices. The product will be sold in approximately 470 stores throughout Japan, some starting Wednesday and others May 10-11, Aeon said.

The decision also came only days after Tokyo suspended imports of beef from a National Beef Packing Co. plant following the discovery of a portion of spinal column in a shipment. (See Japan suspends imports from National Beef plant on Meatingplacec.com, April 23, 2008.)

Urgency

Japan said it didn't find it necessary to impose a blanket ban on U.S. beef following the incident. Still, Washington pressed on, with the U.S. Trade Representative's office on Friday urging Tokyo to eliminate all restrictions on U.S. beef in its annual report. "The United States will continue to urge Japan and other countries in Asia…to fully reopen their markets to U.S. beef," the report said, noting that the World Organization for Animal Health has provided a science-based view that U.S. beef is safe.

Conventional thinking has it that South Korea's recent decision to fully re-open its market to U.S. beef might persuade Japan to follow suit.

Sands suggested that Aeon's commitment was especially significant following competing supermarket chain Daiei Inc.'s decision to drop U.S. beef based on the National Beef incident. "If there was any momentum to bash U.S. beef in Japan, this certainly put the brakes on it," he said.