Dirty, corrupt Japanese beef industry

The Osaka District Court has sentenced a former meat-packing company executive to seven years in prison for swindling the government out of more than 5 billion yen by abusing a beef-buyback program. The government program was introduced in October 2001, a month after the first outbreak in Japan of mad cow disease.

Mitsuru Asada, 66, the former chairman of Osaka-based Hannan Corp., was called the "big boss of the meat industry." He is one of 26 people indicted in a series of similar cases, according to The Japan Times.

The Japanese government has provided some 21 billion yen in BSE-related subsidies. The amount Asada obtained represents about a quarter of this amount. Disgusting. My question is: Why should tax payers be subsidising the meat industry at all?

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