One of Japan's largest fast-food chains has warned it'll be forced to stop serving its trademark dish, -- shredded beef and onions on rice -- unless authorities lift a ban on US beef imports imposed after the discovery of the US' first case of mad cow disease.
The announcement Tuesday by the Yoshinoya chain underlined the dilemma facing some restaurants in Japan, the world's biggest customer for US beef.
News that a cow in Washington state tested positive last week for the brain-wasting bovine disease unnerved Japanese consumers, who've only recently regained their appetite for beef after a mad cow scare at home.
But for down-market eateries like Yoshinoya, whose 980 orange-and-white restaurants are a common sight on Japan's city streets, as well as in Taiwan, there's no substitute for inexpensive American beef.
Yoshinoya relies on US suppliers for 99 percent of the beef used in its trademark gyudon beef bowls -- which at ?260 (about US$2.50) are a staple for office workers and budget-conscious students.
Yoshinoya's president Shuji Abe called a news conference yesterday to announce that gyudon is being stricken from his menus unless Japan resumes US beef imports before the chain's stocks run out in February.
"I never thought our business would come to this," Abe said.
The company's sales have dipped about 15 percent since the US mad cow scare, and its shares took a beating on the stock market last week.
But Yoshinoya has stood by its product, insisting US beef is safe, and says finding a substitute would be too expensive.
"If our prices went up it would drag down our image," Abe said.
Japanese beef is typically pricier than imports, and often reserved for delicacies like sukiyaki -- thin strips of marbled meat boiled with vegetables.
At one Tokyo meat shop Tuesday, a kilogram of homegrown sukiyaki-quality beef was selling for about ?3,000 (US$28) -- about twice the price of comparable imported meat.
Japan imports about two-thirds of its beef, of which around 47 percent, or 226,524 tonnes, came from the US last year.
The rest comes mostly from Australia, which has never recorded a case of mad cow disease.
The Japan Food Service Association last week advised restaurants to rethink their entire business strategies.
"Relying completely on foreign procurement is risky," chairman Kiwamu Yokokawa said.
The US sold US$1.03 billion worth of beef, veal, prepared beef products and variety meats to Japan last year, accounting for about 32 percent of total exports, US data shows.
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