players

一連の食中毒事件を受けて、厚労省は牛のレバーを生で提供することことを７月１日から禁止すると発表しました。牛の生レバーを巡っては、重い食中毒を起こす腸管出血性大腸菌Ｏ１５７（Enterohemorrhagic E. coli O-157）や細菌カンピロバクター（Campylobacter bacteria）を検査や消毒で取り除くことは難しく、加熱しなければ安全を確保できない、とする研究結果が報告が出されていました。予想されていたこととはいえ、食肉業界に与える影響ははかりしれません。

Farmers stunned by decision

Many livestock farmers were staggered by the ministry's decision, which could cut their income considerably, although consumer groups praised the ban.

Kazuo Matsumoto, a 49-year-old farmer who keeps about 340 Japanese black cattle in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture, sighed when he heard about the ministry's decision.

"To be honest, this hurts," he said.

Matsumoto ships about 190 cattle each year. If the price of each cow drops by 5,000 yen because its liver can no longer be sold to restaurants, he could be facing a nearly 1 million yen loss in annual income.

"I hear many people go to barbecue restaurants just to eat raw liver. I'm worried that the new rule might turn people off eating beef," he said.

Beef market players are also wondering how to respond to the liver ban. With liver no longer selling well, some wholesalers have already requested the price of innards be reduced.

Kazutaka Omori, an employee of Tokyo Shibaura Zoki innards trader, sells cattle organs to wholesalers at Tokyo Meat Market in Minato Ward, Tokyo. He acknowledged both sides of this issue are in a tight spot.

"I understand the hardships wholesalers are facing. But I can't ignore the plight of the farmers," Omori, 58, said.

Hisa Anan, the chief of the secretariat of the National Liaison Committee of Consumers' Organization, welcomed the ministry's move.

"The ministry couldn't eradicate food poisoning just by asking restaurants to voluntarily stop serving raw beef liver. I guess the ministry had no alternative," she said.

However, others experts have criticized the ministry's decision.

"The ministry should encourage consumers to make their own decisions by providing them with adequate information, rather than imposing a blanket ban," said Tsutomu Sekizaki, director of the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Food Safety.

(Jun. 14, 2012)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120613003797.htm

Beef market playersのplayersは英語的な言い回しです。これは元々は、"a person who plays a game"ですが、やがて、"one actively involved especially in a competitive field or process" という比喩的な意味が加わり（Webster）、人間活動のさまざまな領域で比喩的に用いられるようになりました。ここは「食（牛）肉業界の関係者」となります。（UG）