U.S. agriculture secretary urges Japan to fully reopen beef market

Saturday 10th October, 04:20 AM JST

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6 Comments

ppayne at 11:06 AM JST - 10th October

Timing bad much?
smithinjapan at 12:51 PM JST - 10th October

Good luck with that one. They couldn't get the markets open with PMs that were more pro-USA than Hatoyama, how do they think they're going to accomplish it with their shoddy testing (or lack thereof) now? They think by throwing Obama's name in there the US will overlook the lack of ethics of the US beef industry?

Bottom line is that until the US starts testing all cattle, the ban should remain in place. What's more, until more restrictions are placed on exporting companies (ie. the morons that keep sending pieces of spine with the meat) the ban should be kept.
flatearther at 08:45 PM JST - 10th October

BWAHAHA! Are you joking??? As an American, I can tell you, you could not pay me to eat American beef. The testing is shoddy, the taste is sub-par and the conditions those cattle are raised in can only be described as monstrous and stomach-churning. If I have to eat American beef, I prefer organic and free range. Due to pathetic labeling laws (aka big companies wanting to pass their beef off as organic and delicious) I can rarely guarantee that my steak is high quality. So I usually just buy Australian.
Cicada at 08:56 PM JST - 10th October

flatearther:

So I usually just buy Australian.

Thanks for reiterating what I was trying to tell Mygrain on the other thread!

I'm not prejudiced when I say American beef tastes terrible and is unsafe or dangerous as well.

Due to pathetic labeling laws (aka big companies wanting to pass their beef off as organic and delicious) I can rarely guarantee that my steak is high quality.

It's the same in Japan. Often, stuff is labelled fraudulently. Especially when beef is just a small ingredient in something, God knows where that beef came from.
Badsey at 12:09 AM JST - 11th October

If you are able to chew it -Australian beef is ok, possibly a marinade is needed.

Politics, as with cooking: Timing and heat are necessary it seems.
PepinGalarga at 04:27 AM JST - 11th October

The beef lobby is very strong. They can get the Agriculture Secretary to say what they want and when they want it. They also have a federally funded $20+ Million PR budget in Japan and have ads in all the subways and everywhere. I wish my coffee would get something comparable. We are getting help from them, but we need much more...