Reports of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States dealt a blow Wednesday to Japan's food industry, which is still recovering from the fallout over the September 2001 domestic breakout of the fatal brain-wasting disease.
The government responded by halting imports of U.S. beef. American beef accounted for 45 percent of total imported beef in fiscal 2002.
Officials of restaurants, supermarkets and other beef-related industries scrambled to minimize the impact of the latest outbreak, putting up notices assuring customers their beef was safe or pulling U.S. beef from their shelves altogether.