Japanese Shun U.S. Beef, Eat Australian

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

Miyoda's view is typical among many Japanese. Australian beef was once viewed as tough and tasteless compared to its U.S. counterpart, but that 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 U.S. beef is facing in regaining consumer acceptance in Japan, the world's second largest economy and once a $1.4 billion export market for American beef.

The discovery of a cow infected with mad cow disease in the United States in 2003 prompted Japan to ban U.S. 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 U.S. but considered at risk for mad cow disease in Japan.

The fumble, which U.S. officials say is an isolated error, has sent an already badly tarnished image of American-grown beef plunging here.

Central to its appeal is the fact that Australia has never had mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, 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 deadly human nerve disorder, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.

Last year, Japanese restaurant chains had been preparing to serve U.S. beef with great fanfare following a two-year hiatus.

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