Cargill’s Spencer Beef brand makes return to Japan
Agriculture Director Greg Ibach is in Japan this week working with a Nebraska beef processor to reintroduce a premium beef brand popular there a decade ago. Representatives of Cargill Meat Solutions in Schuyler asked the Nebraska Department of Agriculture to help promote the availability of its Spencer Beef brand at events in Tokyo and Osaka. Spencer Beef was popular in Japan before U.S. beef exports were halted in December 2003 due to the finding of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the United States.
Cargill is reintroducing Spencer Beef to the marketplace following Japan’s announcement in January that it would allow into the country imports of U.S. beef products from cattle under 30 months of age. Ibach said Spencer Beef only will be produced at Cargill’s Schuyler processing plant, and it will be branded as a Nebraska product in the Japanese marketplace.