Aussie beef in Japan

[cliffy]

Do any of the FG's living in Japan have an awareness of Australian (Specificaly Tasmainian) beef products available to consumers. According to "The experts" here in Aust. It is so popular we cannot keep up with demand. I am asking for impressions rather than specifics as I have a problem with the numbers given here about market share (60-80% ).
Methinks the spin docs have been into the raw figures with a BIG blender.

Again all I am after is, Do you have an awareness of origin branding?
Is beef a significant part of grocery shopping?
Are the spin doctors still full of shit ?

[canman]

Cliffy, up here in Northern Japan, it seems all we can get now is Australian beef, and it is well marked with a nice little kangaroo just to prove where it is from. Now where exactly it comes from I don't know, but it is definetely from Australia.

[Gestalt]

[cliffy]

Thanks for the answers, as I thought modified figures. A sales drive for a niche marketing idea folded into current export data . BTW 'if' you can find it Tasmanian beef has by law NO antibiotics or growth hormones or any artificial growth exellerants (sp?) but is Bloody hard to find for sale out side of Tassie itself. Also it is seasonal so it is not 'convenient' for fresh year 'round supply, which if things are similar to the "bubble" times is a MAJOR Japanese requirement.

Now to talk to the "Experts"..........

[GomiGirl]

The best people to ask would be Austrade or the Meat and Livestock Association (MLA)

MLA Japan information centre

When I shop I always make sure I buy Aussie beef. It is usually clearly marked in Japanese and sometimes there is a flag.

Hope this helps.

[cliffy]

Thanks but this was a staw poll to finish off a "blowing out of the water" of a slick profiteer trying to get some struggling farmers to invest in a Japanese beef sales scheme using only Tasmainian beef for "purity". He backed off when my infomation from exporters, government and this little question on this site was presented to him by a slow walking, slow talking, not so slow thinking "Hick Farmer" .
Wish I could have seen his face
Again thanks

Cliffy

[Big Booger]

Nearly all the meat at our local butcher is Aussie US or Argentine beef. I never buy Japanese.. never. Aussie beef is still tougher than Japanese beef, and US beef is like leather LMAO. I actually prefer the marbling of Japanese beef, though I know it is far more unhealthy..

[ramchop]

I'd always heard the Japanese don't like NZ meat because of the grassy flavour. American cows are feed on grain, what do Aussie cows eat? It's probably more to do with a massive marketing failure on the Kiwi's part.

... or perhaps it's milk that I'm thinking about.

[cliffy]

Most of the Japanese bound beef is fed grasshay till semi maturity, then finished off in "feed lots" on grain andor compressed pellitised feed 'nuts'.
Or they were last time I got stuck on the farm

[ramchop]

BTW 'if' you can find it Tasmanian beef has by law NO antibiotics or growth hormones or any artificial growth exellerants (sp?) but is Bloody hard to find for sale out side of Tassie itself.

Might be easier to find in Aus if the latest news slows down the Japanese importers:

[quote]Thursday, July 24, 2003 at 10:57 JST
TOKYO &#8212]

[Big Booger]

Japanese cows are seldom grazed.. they live their lives in a 4X4 cell, and that is where the fatty consistency of J-beef comes from.

American and I'd imagine Aussie cows roam on ranches making the meat tougher and leaner.

Never ate Kiwi beef so I don't know. Did have some Kiwi lamb once or twice, was rather tasty bahhhhh bahhhhh

[kurohinge1]

Just saw the documentary Burgers that Bite Back about the US meat industry, and I imagine ours in Oz is heading the same way. They said that by 6 months of age, the average US cow has already seen its last blade of grass.

Worth a read. My favourite bit: irradiated poop won't make you sick, but it's still poop

Scary, but not enough for me to give up meat yet.