KANSAS CITY, Mo. – When 11 Japanese children died of a bacterial infection last year, the American beef industry moved into high gear to assure people their food was safe to eat.
By the end of summer, another 46 Japanese fell ill from a mysterious E. coli infection. North American exports to Pacific Rim countries had dropped about 20 percent by fall.
Shipments of beef that were halfway across the Pacific Ocean were cancelled as fearful consumers rejected beef in restaurants and grocery stores, said Phil Seng of the United States Meat Export Federation. The federation handles red meat sales internationally.
Read Also
Alberta eases water access for riparian restoration
Alberta government removes requirement for temporary diversion licence to water plants up to 100 cubic metres per day for smaller riparian restoration projects
No one has discovered where the bacteria originated although rumors suggested everything from white radishes grown in manure to a terrorist plot, said Seng Jan. 31 at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention here.
Sales are returning but not without fancy detective work by American exporters.
They traced the route of all American products starting with the packing plants to the refrigeration units on ships, warehouses and retail meat cases in Japan.
The next step was public education and reassurance.
American beef promotion
Producers, packers, government and Japanese retailers invested $5 million for the promotion campaign to convince Japanese beef buyers that American beef was safe.
In December they ran 3,972 in-store promotions to move beef. Sales went up by 130 percent. Export sales recovered but failed to surpass the federations’ original sales target of one million tonnes.
“We’ll know the real success of this promotion, especially as it relates to dressed product this summer,” Seng said.
Summer is called the E. coli season because bacteria grows better when meat is prepared in humid, hot weather.
When the E. coli infections were diagnosed, Japanese shoppers shunned imported beef and started buying domestic beef. However, there was no guarantee that meat was any safer to eat, said Seng.
There are 233 slaughter plants in Japan. Many plants are not inspected or regulated by government. Traditionally meat cutting has not been a high status job so there was no pressure by the Japanese health department to bring them under inspection programs, said Seng.
By educating the Japanese public about hazard analysis critical control programs, a new program becoming widespread across North America, exporters feel some of the heat has been drawn away from them.
