Seiyu Ltd. is the Japan unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Even so, Seiyu Ltd. which operates more than 200 stores nationwide won't sell US beef.
And the US has no one to blame but itself...well, that and the finicky Japanese consumer.
The US had its first case of mad cow disease in Dec. 2003. Japan responded by banning beef imports from the US.
Two years later and enough time for the US to clean up its act, within a month of resumed imports, a shipment was sent with questionable parts (parts the Japanese think are susceptible to mad cow disease.)
Results - another ban.
That hurdle finally cleared, exports have resumed....but no one is buying except Costco.
Yoshinoya D& C Co. a beef bowl fast food store used to buy US beef so they could sell their gyuudon so cheaply.
Even Yoshinoya won't buy the beef...at least not yet.
Japan is a great market and there is plenty of money to be made IF a company can meet the high standards the Japanese set.
The US beef industry did not meet the standards and now the industry is paying for it.
And the US has no one to blame but itself...well, that and the finicky Japanese consumer.
The US had its first case of mad cow disease in Dec. 2003. Japan responded by banning beef imports from the US.
Two years later and enough time for the US to clean up its act, within a month of resumed imports, a shipment was sent with questionable parts (parts the Japanese think are susceptible to mad cow disease.)
Results - another ban.
That hurdle finally cleared, exports have resumed....but no one is buying except Costco.
Yoshinoya D& C Co. a beef bowl fast food store used to buy US beef so they could sell their gyuudon so cheaply.
Even Yoshinoya won't buy the beef...at least not yet.
Japan is a great market and there is plenty of money to be made IF a company can meet the high standards the Japanese set.
The US beef industry did not meet the standards and now the industry is paying for it.