June 12, 2006

Japan worries about going vegetarian

A Japanese researcher has warned that rising world demand for meat could force Japan to return to its 1950s vegetarian style diet.

Although Akio Shibata, director of the Marubeni Research Institute, said this would be a worst-case scenario, the Japanese government is taking the issue seriously, according to the Times of London.

Shibata said an increasingly prosperous China would be competing for meat with Japan in international markets.

China's meat consumption per capita of 59 kg is rapidly closing the gap with those of western nations. China's meat sales increased by 38 percent while its meat imports reached 700,000 tones last year.

Japan imports about 40 percent of its food, some of which, like pork , already comes from China. Japan imported around half a million tonnes of meat from China last year.

The country also imports most of its beef from Australia after it banned US beef due to mad cow disease two years ago.

The Japanese diet, which consists of more meat now, could in future revert to pickled eggplant, miso soup, buckwheat noodles, sardines and persimmon, Shibata said.

Prices on the Japan market fell this week as weak consumption throughout May and strong imports of Australian beef led to excess stocks.