U.S. Beef Gaining In Popularity With Japanese Consumers
Surveys conducted by the United States Meat Export Federation (USMEF) found that consumers in Japan have become more confident in the U.S. beef supply and are consequently consuming larger quantities of U.S. beef.
Over the past three years, the number of consumers of U.S. beef in Japan who feel “extremely safe” or “somewhat safe” more than doubled from 12.1% in 2006 to 30.1% in August of 2009, while the number of those who feel “not very safe” or “not safe at all” declined from 62.5% to 30.8% during this same time period.
Japanese consumers cited the following reasons for their increase in confidence in U.S. beef:
- 41% said the approval of the safety of U.S. beef by the government of Japan
- 23.4% said U.S. Government safety guarantees
- 22.1% said safety approvals offered by specialists and celebrities
- 20.5% said safety explanations offered by U.S. producers
- 14.4% said the serving of U.S. beef in well-known restaurants and hotels