The government plans to maintain indefinitely its faster level of testing for mad cow disease, rather than scaling back testing in December as originally envisioned.

With the lucrative Japanese market poised to reopen to American cattle, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns says he wants government scientists to continue testing about 1,000 cattle a day.

Johanns said his decision is not about Japan, which bought more American beef than any other foreign customer until the U.S. discovered its first case of mad cow disease. Johanns said he wants to make sure testing represents all regions of the country and that healthy animals are tested.