Japanese Buyers Visit Wisconsin To Learn About U.S. Dairy Cattle And Beef Quality

As sales recover slowly from the pandemic in Japan’s foodservice sector, buyers are seeking new ideas to cap rising input costs.  A key strategy for USMEF this year is to present economical options to buyers, such as underutilized cuts of beef and in some cases, beef from dairy cattle. Japan abolished the cattle age limit for imported beef in 2019, which opened the door to importing beef from dairy cattle.

USMEF’s Tokyo office led a team of foodservice buyers to Wisconsin last month to examine dairy cattle production and learn about dairy beef quality.

“Team members learned about dairy cattle breeding and raising and the production differences between beef cattle and dairy cattle,” says USMEF Marketing Director Tatsuru Kasatani. “Most important, we were able to demonstrate the high quality of beef from dairy steers and cows. These buyers are now very receptive to purchasing these products from the United States.”

Funding support was provided by the Beef Checkoff Program and Wisconsin Beef Council. The tour was also supported by the Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board and Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.