Last week’s discovery of a new case of mad cow disease in Alabama isn’t slowing Kansas officials in their quest to reopen Japanese markets to American beef.

“Catching this case in Alabama should solidify with the Japanese that our system is working in this country,” Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said Wednesday during a conference call with the Kansas media. “The Japanese need to open the market – it’s been closed too long.”

If not, Brownback said, America might impose an “economic cost” on Japan.

The beef industry is critical to the state economy, generating more than $5 billion in revenue. Before America’s first outbreak of mad cow disease in 2003, Japan purchased nearly $1.4 billion worth of U.S. beef a year.

“This is a huge issue in our state,” said Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who is a member of the House Agriculture Committee.

After two years of being closed to American beef, Japanese markets briefly reopened late last year after Moran and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., introduced bills to levy economic sanctions. But the Japanese closed their markets again in January when inspectors found part of a backbone – forbidden under beef trade rules – in a shipment of veal.

Brownback and Moran met with Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato in recent weeks to make the case for loosening restrictions. Their efforts were complicated by the newest mad cow case, the country’s third.

But Roberts, who is on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the discovery is proof that the American system works to catch the disease before it enters the food supply.

“When we started testing, we anticipated finding positive cases of” mad cow, Roberts said. “The important thing is that these animals are kept out of the food supply and the proper tools and methods of response are in place to ensure animal and human health.”

Roberts added that Japan has had more than 20 cases of mad cow disease.

That’s why Moran believes the Japanese position is more about politics than food fears.

“They’ve always been reluctant to open their market,” he said. “I don’t think this is a food-safety issue in Japan.”

And like Brownback, Moran indicated he might soon be ready to pursue sanctions against Japan. A spokesman for Roberts said he was considering “all legislative options.”

“I think that certainly is a possibility,” Moran said. “It’s hard to say we’re patient, because patience ran out a long time ago.”