Quarantine inspections of imported American beef are expected to return to the level applied before a case of mad cow disease in California in April raised alarm here.

This means that the proportion of beef that will be screened drops from 50 percent to 3 percent.

An official with the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Thursday said inspections could be eased as early as next week because public fears about American beef have abated and importers and distributors "have suffered a lot."

Inspections typically look for prohibited so-called special risk materials like the spinal cord or eyes.

The ministry is currently talking with the Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency about when exactly to ease inspections.