Japanese Wagyu Promoted in Taiwan

Taipei, Oct. 17 (Jiji Press)--Following Taiwan's lifting of its 16-year-old ban on imports of Japanese beef last month, a Japanese livestock industry group held an event to promote wagyu in Taipei on Tuesday. "We hope that consumers in Taiwan will recognize the excellence of wagyu again," said Toshiaki Nanba, president of the Japan Livestock Products Export Promotion Council. According to the council, Taiwan was the largest importer of wagyu from Japan in the late 1990s. But it prohibited the wagyu imports in the wake of an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in Japan in September 2001. Currently, Japan exports wagyu mainly to Hong Kong and the United States. At the event, top-grade wagyu steaks and sukiyaki were served to local media people and importers. The council aims to turn Taiwanese people into major consumers of Japanese wagyu by making such promotional efforts as showing them various recipes. END