11/24/06 We care

We Care American ranchers are becoming international travelers to promote American beef. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be right back with their story. Tom and Cindy Beechinor from Walla Walla, Washington recently were part of the "We Care" campaign to help promote U.S. beef in Japan. The "We care" program was a promotion that the U.S. Meat Export Federation designed to reassure Japanese customers about the safety and wholesomeness of U.S. beef. With support from the Washington Beef Commission, the Beechinors became the faces of the American cowboy producing that beef. I talked with Tom and Cindy recently and asked them a little about Japanese culture. One of the images that was large in their minds was the small portion of beef served on small plates  nothing like we are used to here in the United States. Very little room is allotted for food storage in Japanese homes so Japanese housewives shop nearly everyday for fresh meat products. Mealtime in Japan is more of an event than just eating and food presentation is taken as seriously in grocery stores as it is in restaurants and in the home. In some Japanese grocery stores, customers with Internet access cell phones can enter a bar code from a meat package and receive a picture of the actual Japanese grower that produced that cut of meat. In Japan, it is considered an honor to be the face behind a product. That is why Tom and Cindy Beechinor's trip was so successful; it connected a face to the U.S. beef product. I'm Jeff Keane.