According to Kyodo News, Japan is set to visit Colorado on Monday and Tuesday to hold working-level talks on Japan's current ban on U.S. beef.
Talks have been held up over the issue of whether blanket testing for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is necessary. Japan's new agriculture minister, Yoshinobu Shimamura, said in an interview that testing all cattle is a waste of money since it is hard to detect prions in young cattle.
Shimamura also said in the interview he desires to settle the import ban issue as soon as possible through talks with the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the Wall Street Journal reports.