U.S. beef re-enters Japan

TOKYO, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The first shipment of U.S. beef to reach Japan since Tokyo reimposed a ban in January over fears of mad cow disease has arrived.

The importer of the approximately 5.1 tons of beef, which was flown into Narita Airport, was Costco Wholesale Japan Inc., the Japanese unit of U.S. Costco Wholesale Corp., which has five outlets in Japan, the Japan Times reported Tuesday.

The beef should be available to customers later this week, Costco said.

Inspectors from two agencies are opening all boxes of the shipment to make sure there are no high risk materials, including brains and spinal cords.