TOKYO – Japan has stopped beef imports from Cargill Inc.’s Dodge City, Kan. plant after finding a shipment without a required food safety certificate, officials said Friday.

Reports say that the Japanese Agriculture Ministry has asked the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to investigate the case.

The problem reportedly surfaced when an importer found a pieced of 9.9 pound ground beef that was not identified by papers issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a larger shipment.

Nippon Meat Packers Inc. has not reported any other irregularities, the ministry said. It was not immediately known whether the ground beef was packed by mistake.

Japan also had suspended imports from Cargill from October to January after 225 boxes in a 9-ton shipment contained tendons without carrying proper papers. A Smithfield Group plant was also banned briefly after a shipment contained unauthorized meat.

Source: Associated Press