Radishes, Not Beef, to Blame for 1996 Japan E.coli Outbreak

A major E.coli outbreak in Japan in 1996, that was then blamed on U.S. imported beef, has now been determined to have been caused by US-grown radish sprout seeds, not beef. The outbreak sickened thousands of people in Japan in 1996, and was responsible for several deaths.

Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare recently announced that radish sprouts produced by a Japanese farmer who had obtained the seeds from the United States were to blame. The Ministry concluded that since the seeds had been packed in bags when imported from the United States, it was unlikely that the seeds could have been contaminated from outside after unloading at a Japanese port. However, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries questions the conclusions of the Health Ministry. They note that while the seeds were cultured in conditions ideal for E.coli, the bacteria were not found and they have reservations about determining its source of contamination.

According to the U.S. Meat Export Federation, (USMEF) the E.coli O157:H7 outbreak in Japan caused a 40% decline in imported meat in a one year period. The USMEF reports that 8 percent of all beef produced in the U. S. is exported, and that half of those exports go to Japan. The erroneous E.coli attribution to U.S. beef costs the U.S. economy millions of dollars. Beef exports to Japan are showing signs of recovery in 1998.

Utah Commissioner of Agriculture and Food, Cary G. Peterson says this is a classic example of the blame being placed on the wrong food commodity with disastrous economic effects as a result.

The USMEF says one of the reasons this happened is that the news media, both in the U.S. and around the world, are eager to associate E.coli O157:H7 with beef without truly understanding the science of E.coli.

Posted April 16, 1998