Nearly 75 percent of housewives surveyed stopped eating beef after the nation's first case of mad cow disease, and around 60 percent still had no taste for it after the government's recent declaration that the country's beef is safe, according to a recent Kyodo News survey.
Seventy-four of the 100 housewives aged 26 to 86 polled across Japan stopped eating beef in the wake of the first acknowledgment of a case of mad cow disease in Japan, and 63 still had no taste for red meat despite the government's declaration Thursday that it is free of mad cow disease.
The remaining 26 said they believe certain cuts of beef are safe.
Many housewives suspect the government is covering up the mad cow scandal.
Only eight housewives polled said they accept the government explanation and will start eating beef again.
All of the roughly 1.3 million cows to be slaughtered in the coming year for human consumption are subject to preliminary examinations to be conducted at meat-hygiene inspection centers across Japan.