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Aussie exporters cash in on US beef woes in Japan

Kazuki Ikeda, a 21-year-old college student, eats ``gyudon,'' a bowl of rice topped with beef from Australia, at a Sukiya fast-food restaurant in Tokyo last Friday. Sukiya placed a full-page newspaper ad this week saying it was opposed to serving US beef because of safety concerns. Australia has never had a case of mad cow disease. PHOTO: AP

Kenji Miyoda, savoring a bowl of rice topped with beef from Australia, raw egg and spicy sauce, believes Australian beef is far safer than US beef.

"It tastes OK, it's cheap and it fills me up," the 27-year-old banker said, gobbling down his ¥450 (US$4) meal at Sukiya, a nationwide chain that placed a full-page newspaper ad to declare it was opposed to serving US beef out of safety concerns.

Miyoda's view is typical among many Japanese. Australian beef was once viewed as tough and tasteless compared to its US counterpart, but this stereotype is vanishing on quality upgrades by switching feed to grain, instead of just grass, to cater to the Japanese palate.

There's no doubt the Australian beef industry has been the biggest beneficiary from the serious troubles US beef is facing in regaining consumer acceptance in Japan -- the world's second-largest economy and once a US$1.4 billion export market for US beef.

The discovery of a cow infected with mad cow disease in the US in 2003 prompted Japan to ban US beef. The reopening of the market in December immediately went awry in January, however, when veal cuts with backbone were found in a shipment. Such cuts are eaten in the US but considered at risk for mad cow disease in Japan.

The fumble, which US officials say was an isolated error, has sent an already badly tarnished image of US-grown beef plunging in Japan.

Central to its appeal is the fact that Australia has never had mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a brain-wasting ailment in cattle. Australia protects its cow herd religiously, boasting that its borders as an island nation are closed to possible contamination.

In people, eating meat products contaminated with BSE is linked to more than 150 deaths worldwide, mostly in Britain, from a human nerve disorder -- variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Last year, Japanese restaurant chains had been preparing to serve US beef with great fanfare following a two-year hiatus. But the disappointment after the January mishap -- and shattered credibility -- was devastating. These days, consumers aren't sure any more whether US shipments will ever be safe.

Raising grain-fed cows -- something US cattle owners were doing for years -- is a relatively new discovery for the Australians. But the Japanese appetite for "Aussie beef" is ballooning.

The ad for Sukiya's latest menu addition boasts that "Beef Bowl Italiano" uses "safe Aussie beef."

"We are not totally convinced we can say there's no reason to worry about the safety" of US beef, it said.

The numbers tell the story: Australian beef now makes up 51 percent of the beef consumed in Japan. Australian beef shipments to Japan surged 45 percent to 412,000 tonnes last year from 284,000 tonnes in 2003.

Hideo Yamamura, meat section manager at Keisei Store Co, which runs 32 stores in Tokyo suburbs, says Australian beef has adapted well to consumer tastes.

"Frankly, it was an alternative to American beef, but it has won support from Japanese," he said, adding that his stores plan to stick with Australian beef for some time.

Japanese are notorious for their finicky eating habits, including a liking for a gourmet strand of marbled beef from Japan's wagyu cows famous for guzzling beer.
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