Owners of restaurants in Sendai serving ox tongue dishes, a specialty of the city, handed a petition containing about 45,000 signatures to the government Friday seeking the lifting of Japan's ban on U.S. beef imports.
During a meeting with Yoshiyuki Kamei, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the restaurant owners also submitted a petition in which they said that more than 70 percent of ox tongues consumed in Japan came from the United States before the import ban was imposed in late December.
With the stockpile of domestic products about to run out, the owners said they may have to go out of business if the ban on U.S beef continues.
The ban was imposed due to a mad cow disease case in the U.S. "Our stock may run out in May or June, and we are in trouble because it (the lifting of the ban) is still unthinkable at the moment," said Noboru Moriya, who leads a Sendai ox-tongue industry body.