Japan Agrees on Import Conditions for Northern Argentina Beef

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries held quarantine consultations with Argentine authorities. In February 2026, it received an advisory from the Livestock Health Subcommittee of the Food, Agriculture and Rural Policy Council that the risk of foot-and-mouth disease entering Japan is extremely low if deboned beef from Argentina’s northern region is properly matured. Following further consultations based on the risk assessment, the two sides agreed on animal health conditions.

Argentina’s northern region is recognized as free of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination. Uruguay has the same status, and imports under similar conditions are already permitted. Argentina’s southern region is recognized as free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, and imports without maturation or deboning are already permitted.

Agreement on the conditions alone will not immediately allow imports from Argentina’s northern region. The Japanese government must conduct an on-site inspection and designate meat-handling facilities that meet the conditions; imports can then be made from those facilities.

The northern region covered comprises the provinces of La Pampa; Buenos Aires, excluding the Patagones administrative district; Mendoza; San Luis; San Juan; La Rioja; Cordoba; Santa Fe; Entre Rios; Corrientes; Misiones; Chaco; Santiago del Estero; Catamarca; Tucuman; Jujuy; Salta; and Formosa.

Animal health conditions are requirements that Japan imposes on trading partners from an animal quarantine perspective when importing animals or livestock products. The imports covered by this agreement are beef treated through maturation and deboning to inactivate the foot-and-mouth disease virus, and products derived from that beef.