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August 22, 2006
Who cares about mad cow? The Japanese, for one...
Japanese people just aren't buying it. Although the country re-opened its doors to US beef weeks ago, the meat still isn't making it into most stores, restaurants and consumers' kitchens in Japan.
Why? Because the Japanese people seem to bear a totally rational fear of eating meat contaminated with mad cow.
Ever since the US's first case of mad cow was discovered in December 2003, Japanese people have been suspicious of our meat supply, prefering to consume their locally-grown beef, even though it can cost up to 10 times as much as American beef.
The reason why they're willing to pay so much is that every single Japanese cow is tested for mad cow prior to being packaged - whereas in the US we only test 1% of our cows.
Would the Japanese put more trust in American beef if we started to test each animal before it entered the food supply? Probably. And Americans would also gain the added benefit of eating beef without putting themselves at risk of developing a debilitating and fatal neurological disorder.
Until then, the Japanese can go on eating their locally-grown beef, and we Americans can find our own local sources of meat that comes from animals raised on grass and that aren't potentially contaminated with mad cow.
Source: Beef Imported from US Scarce in Japan
Learn More: Mad Cow Disease
Posted by gwen at August 22, 2006 01:12 PM
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