Japan and the United States started two-day experts' meeting on early Wednesday in Tokyo to discuss further steps to be taken before Japan can lift its reimposed ban on American beef imports, Kyodo News reported.

Japanese officials from the foreign, health and farm ministries took part in the talks, the first since late March, with their U.S. counterparts, led by Deputy Agriculture Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Products Chuck Lambert, according to Foreign Ministry officials.

Japan plans to ask the United States to allow Japanese officials to inspect the certified U.S. meat packing facilities on their own or to accompany U.S. inspectors during snap checkups, Japanese officials were quoted as saying.

The United States will give a report on their recent recheck at 37 beef processing facilities certified for exports to Japan, and try to convince the Japanese side of its compliance with bilateral agreement on safeguarding against the mad cow disease, Kyodo News said.

Japan suspended all U.S. beef imports on Jan. 20, only a month after resuming the trade, as it detected in a U.S. beef shipment a bovine spine, which is banned in Japan for fear of the mad cow disease.

Source: Xinhua