US Beef - 10/06

Japan lifted a ban on U.S. beef in July. The first ban was in December 2003 when U.S. mad cow disease case was found. That ban lasted two years. I remember the temper tantrums the U.S. government was having over the restrictions back then. The Japanese stood their ground and insisted on strict guidelines. As a result importing was reinstated; that is until Japanese inspectors found naughty banned material in a New York shipment in January 2006, which was only one month later. ~ Oops.

When we returned in July 06, all the reports were about U.S. beef being available again. Beef is very costly, so it was thought that the Japanese would be thrilled with the less expensive stuff. Instead, the public has been shunning the beef and is very skeptical of its safety.

I'm happy to buy U.S. beef here. I figure with the level of scrutiny the Japanese give it, it's probably safer than what I can buy at home. Unfortunately, my local grocery store doesn't carry unpopular products.

Since I can't afford Japanese beef, we're eating a lot of fish.