Japan bans US beef imports (again)

After the country renewed beef imports from the States last month, Japan is banning them again after it received cattle carcasses with outlawed materials in them.

Under an agreement reached last year, Japan would only accept beef doesn't contain the spinal cords, vertebrae, brains and bone marrow in them since those parts carry a far higher risk of being infected with mad cow disease. Additionally, the beef must be from cattle less than 21 months of age. It didn't take long for that agreement to be violated.

So far, three cases of the disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), have been confirmed in the United States, two from native cattle and one imported. Two other cases have been confirmed in Canada.