Japanese Beef Seen in Large Volume in China Despite Embargo
JAPAN - Beef from Japan appears to have been in distribution in large quantities in China although Beijing banned imports of the Japanese produce nearly two decades ago.According to Jiji Press, people familiar with the matter say that Cambodia could be behind the odd phenomenon.
No Japanese beef had been exported to Cambodia until 2009. But the Southeast Asian nation was the second-biggest importer in 2017, accounting for one-fifth of the total Japanese beef exports that year.
Due to the import embargo, Cambodia is used as a back route for Japanese beef to China, where the Japanese produce is very popular, informed sources say.
The ban was introduced in the wake of the 2001 outbreak of brain-wasting mad cow disease, formally called bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in Japan, and has been in place since then.
TheCattleSite News Desk