(JP)Public skeptical about safety of Japanese beef

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20011031b1.htm

 

Public skeptical about safety of Japanese beef

 

More than 56 percent of the public do not believe the

government declaration made earlier this month that

domestic beef is safe from mad cow disease, according

to a Kyodo News survey released Tuesday.

 

In addition, nearly four out of five respondents

consider health authorities' handling of the matter

problematic.

 

According to the nationwide phone survey carried out

over the weekend, 56.7 percent of respondents said the

Sept. 18 declaration is " not believable " or " rather

unbelievable, " surpassing the 41.1 percent of those

who said it can be trusted " totally " or " to a certain

extent. "

 

The telephone survey was conducted using numbers

randomly selected by computers. A total of 1,620

households were contacted and 1,060 responded.

 

Nearly 80 percent of respondents said the handling of

the matter by the central and local governments was

questionable.

 

Moreover, 38 percent said they had reduced their beef

intake, while 24.1 percent said they had stopped

eating beef completely, underlining the level of

distrust in public health authorities, whose

countermeasures were thought to be slow.

 

Underlining the respondents' claims, major supermarket

stores told Kyodo News that beef sales in October were

40 percent to 70 percent less than a year earlier.

Among members of a national organization of

restaurants serving grilled meat dishes, 44 percent

reported a year-on-year decline in sales of over 50

percent between mid-September and mid-October.

 

According to data provided by the Health, Labor and

Welfare Ministry, the wholesale price of beef is now

around 700 yen to 800 yen per kg, down from around

1,200 yen before Sept. 10, when a cow in Chiba

Prefecture was confirmed as the nation's first carrier

of mad cow disease.

 

Among those who saw problems in the way authorities

handled the matter, 38.4 percent said the government

was too slow to ban the use of meat-and-bone meal, the

type of cow feed believed to be the prime source of

infection for the disease.

 

Another 25 percent said there was some confusion in

government announcements, while 15.6 percent said

authorities were short on explanations about the

safety of beef. Some 12.4 percent believed the mad cow

infection routes had not been fully determined.

 

Only 23.6 percent of respondents said they still

consume the same quantity of beef as before.

 

The Japan Times: Oct. 31, 2001

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