Brooklyn company ‘regrets’ shipment of meat

NEW YORK — The president of a Brooklyn company that sent a shipment of meat to Japan containing bone the Asian country considers at risk for mad cow disease said Friday that it regrets the move, but that the product is safe.

“Were this product shipped to San Francisco, there would be no question about its safety,” Philip Peerless, president of Atlantic Veal and Lamb, said in a statement released after the government barred the company from selling meat to Japan.

Peerless said concern over the shipment was based on a misinterpretation of export requirements and “an honest mistake involving a very small amount of product.”

Japan halted American beef imports on Friday after finding spinal column from veal in a shipment from the company. The tissue is allowed in the American food supply because it comes from animals younger than 30 months, but is barred in an agreement with Japan.

Six weeks ago the country ended a ban on American beef imposed after the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States in 2003.

Peerless said Atlantic Veal would cooperate with the U.S. Agriculture Department to ensure the company was in compliance with inspection regulations.

He said the company estimates the veal it shipped came from animals younger than 4 1/2 months.