Tyson Foods Inc.’s nine beef plants, including one near Holcomb, will be part of a nationwide inspection to verify that the U.S. beef industry meets Japan’s import standards.

Japanese officials plan to visit the United States in the next few weeks before lifting the ban on importing American beef. The ban has been in effect since 2003.

Gary Mickelson, spokesman for Tyson, would not release the exact date of the visit to the Holcomb plant but did say all of the Tyson beef plants would be inspected beginning late next week through the third week in July. Mickelson said beef sales could resume in Japan as soon as the end of July if the plants pass Japanese inspection.

The ban has cost the U.S. beef industry more than $3 billion in sales.

Japan was the United States’ largest overseas market for beef before the ban was imposed in 2003, after the first American case of mad cow disease was discovered. The ban was lifted for about a month at the end of last year, but shipments stopped again after Japanese officials discovered a violation of Tokyo’s import rules.