TOKYO (Reuters) - Under intense pressure from the United States, Japan moved a step closer to easing a ban on U.S. beef Monday after the government won approval for plans to drop its policy of testing all cattle for mad cow disease. 

The resumption of beef trade appeared a long way off, however, as Japan still must review U.S. steps to keep infected meat out of the food chain before lifting the 15-month-old ban. 

The Food Safety Commission (FSC) concluded a five-month discussion on whether to allow the government to exclude cattle younger than 21 months from mad cow testing, saying relaxation of the testing regime would hardly increase the risk of contamination. 

Approval of the easier policy by the food safety watchdog is a precondition for Japan to implement an October 2004 agreement with the United States to resume imports of American beef from cattle aged below 21 months without conducting mad cow testing. 

Cattle below the age of 21 months are considered to be at low risk from the brain-wasting disease. 

"We have judged that setting a threshold for (cattle) age will only pose a minor risk to human health," Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, the head of the FSC's 12-member subcommittee studying the case, said at the meeting. 

Japan banned American beef imports in December 2003 after the discovery of the first U.S. case of the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. 

Before the ban, Japan was the top overseas customer for U.S. beef, buying $1.4 billion worth in 2003. 

Washington has expressed frustration with Japan's slowness in carrying out the agreement to restart imports, prompting some U.S. lawmakers to call for retaliatory sanctions against Japan. 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the issue a top agenda item when she was in Tokyo earlier this month, but the government has declined to give a timetable for ending the ban. 

The Japanese government cannot intervene directly in the decisions of the FSC -- an independent body of experts created in 2003 to conduct risk assessment on food scientifically and to make policy recommendations to relevant ministries. 

Japan's policy of blanket BSE testing started in October 2001 after it discovered its own first case of mad cow disease. 

The strict measure was aimed at alleviating safety concerns among consumers. Beef sales in Japan plunged more than 50 percent as people shunned beef for fear of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of mad cow disease. 

LONG WAY TO GO... 

The FSC will next formalise the conclusion of a subcommitte that has been looking into the testing issue and give final approval to the government in early May. 

The government would then ask the commission to approve Japanese resumption of U.S. beef imports. 

After receiving the government's request, the FSC will then launch a review of U.S. safety measures against mad cow disease to determine whether they meet Japanese standards, a process that could take several months. 

Although the FSC is under mounting pressure from the U.S. and Japanese governments to make a quick decision, Japanese consumer groups want the commission to be cautious, saying U.S. beef safety checks are too loose compared with those of Japan. 

"The United States is demanding Japan resume beef imports without taking sufficient measures against mad cow disease," said Hiroko Mizuhara, secretary-general of the Consumers Union of Japan. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report that said the Food and Drug Administration was overstating the industry's compliance with the animal feed ban and understating the potential risk of BSE for U.S. cattle. 

Last December, a federal meat inspectors union said U.S. meat plants were allowing brains and spinal cords from older cattle to enter the food supply, violating strict government regulations aimed at preventing the spread of mad cow disease. 

The United States also does not have a system to record the date of birth for all American cattle, and has asked Japan to allow imports of beef from cattle the U.S. government verifies as younger than 21 months old by checking the maturity of meat and bone. 

Japan has so far confirmed 16 cases of mad cow disease in its own herd. Japan also confirmed last month its first case of the human variant after the death of a man believed to have contracted the illness from eating infected beef in Britain.