Japan Shocked by Reported Case of ‘Mad Cow’ Disease

Japan reacted with fear and disbelief Tuesday to reports that the nation had discovered its first suspected case of “mad cow” disease. Reluctant to take any chances, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines quickly announced bans on Japanese beef and beef products.

“Mad-Cow Disease Could Spread Nationwide,” screamed the headline in one Japanese newspaper. “First Time in Japan,” warned another.

Shares of dairy and meat processing companies, beef-and-rice restaurant chains and McDonald’s Co. Japan all fell on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by as much as 15% Tuesday, even as fish companies gained on speculation that people would alter their diet.

Rising concerns and a flood of calls to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries followed a government announcement Monday that a 5-year-old Holstein dairy cow collapsed at a farm in Chiba just west of Tokyo and was destroyed last month.

Initial tests early this month pointed to mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which causes brain tissue to deteriorate. Samples will be sent to a laboratory in Britain for follow-up testing. If confirmed, it would be the first mad cow incident in Asia.

Japan found itself scrambling Tuesday to track the cow’s movements and the food it ate before it was killed, given that symptoms can take two to eight years to show up. Initial reports blamed imported feed made of meat and bone meal, with some pointing to Britain and others to the United States as the source. A U.S. Embassy official said the report was being investigated.

Japanese officials tried to reassure people that there was no immediate danger to milk drinkers or meat eaters. “Milk is totally safe,” said Kazuo Ito, an official in the Agriculture Ministry’s animal health section.

Many consumers seemed less than convinced. “We can’t trust what the government says--who knows what kind of investigation they’re really doing?” said Masayo Otake, a 53-year-old homemaker who has three sons. “We have to take the initiative ourselves and stop buying anything suspicious.”

Setsuko Yasuda, representative of the consumer group Food Policy Center, Vision 21, said government officials have been too complacent. Japan has discouraged the use of bone-meal feed since 1996 but has stopped short of an outright ban.

Three months ago, the European Union warned Japan that it was at risk, but agriculture officials here downplayed the danger. They argued that the nation’s high standards made it a near impossibility. “They absolutely denied it and scoffed at us, saying we were overreacting,” Yasuda said. “Now a few months later, this happens.”

The announcement was the latest in a series of food scares here involving milk, genetically modified corn and vegetables. Food safety and self-sufficiency have a particularly strong cultural and political resonance in Japan.

“Given Japan’s long history of rice and vegetable farming, it’s natural that we may overreact psychologically to food safety issues,” said Masahiro Ueno, professor of communications at Shizuoka University of Arts and Culture.

Yasuda, meanwhile, said this is the unfortunate cost of a global food industry that emphasizes productivity. “This is what happens when you feed cows things they don’t usually eat, like animal protein,” she said. “We’re turning environmental rules upside down and this is nature’s revenge.”

Producers, for their part, expressed fear Tuesday that public misunderstanding and false information would prove far more damaging to business than the disease itself.

“We’re very worried about consumers’ reactions,” said Soichi Kagawa, director of the Central Animal Industry Assn., a business group. “Rumors can have such a strong impact, and people may stop eating beef simply because of the mass media.”

Yoshinoya D&C; Co., a restaurant chain that sells bowls of beef and rice for about $2.20, said if the public outcry grows much greater, it will post warning signs saying that all its beef comes from the U.S. and Australia, countries that have never suffered mad cow disease.

Others criticized the way the news was released in a nation where ministries have traditionally favored producers over consumers.

Yoshiyuki Moki, a Chiba dairy farmer, said the Agriculture Ministry should have followed its usual practice of concealing or soft-pedaling the danger rather than coming out with the announcement itself. “While it may be good for consumers, the ministry should protect us farmers,” said Moki, owner of 65 dairy cows.

Cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, were discovered in 1986 in Britain. Since then, more than 100 people have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a human form of mad cow disease. As alarm spread across Japan on Tuesday, many Japanese called for quick action to restore faith in their nation’s food system.

“I always thought Japan was such a safe country,” said Mikako Murakami, a 28-year-old Tokyo homemaker. “We need a thorough investigation. I really can’t believe it’s just one Japanese cow.”

Makiko Inoue in The Times’ Tokyo Bureau contributed to this report.