Yoshinoya
beef

Yoshinoya’s beef adheres to the Codex Alimentarius international food standards

The Yoshinoya Holdings Group does business with a wide range of meat packers in the U.S. that vary in size, but our safety standards are always consistent. The standards include, firstly, the Codex Alimentarius (Codex standards). This is a set of international food standards adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is an international intergovernmental organization established in 1962 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in the food trade. The Codex standards, above all, guarantees the safety of the American beef used by the Yoshinoya Holdings Group.

Secondly, our standards involve different national safety standards, which satisfy the international standards. In the U.S., three governmental organizations, namely, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, work in close cooperation and implement strict control and monitoring.

The three U.S. governmental organizations strictly monitor all aspects of food safety, from diseases of livestock to residual animal drugs

The FDA approves animal drugs used by farmers and specifies methods of their use, and the EPA sets limits on the residual amount of pesticide used for fodder. The fodder goes through exhaustive checking processes under strict standards, and those that meet the standards are fed to cattle. The fodder also needs to be fed based on scientific and deliberate calculation, in order to establish a production cycle of cattle with stable quality from the viewpoint of economic rationality. For example, most of the American beef are grain fed, but the cattle do not eat grain from the beginning. Farmers feed grain to their cattle in phases so that the cattle can get accustomed to eating it. The quantity, the timing, and other factors are dependent on the skills and experience of meat packers and contracted farmers. For this reason, the Yoshinoya Holdings Group only chooses beef produced by reliable meat packers and is always committed to delivering beef of consistent quality.

The FSIS conducts disease inspections of livestock, pathological autopsy, and residue inspections for agricultural chemicals and animal drugs at processing plants. This means that the FSIS inspects processing plants to make sure that the producers comply with the appropriate methods of use and residue limits set by the FDA and the EPA. The FSIS also instructs and supervises processing plants and other facilities in hygiene management.

We repeatedly check the quality of our products at local processing plants under the USDA supervision

When cattle are delivered to a processing plant, veterinarians of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conduct a strict checking process that includes visual inspection of the cattle as well as quarantine and disposal of cattle with a symptom of a disease. The USDA’s inspectors inspect carcasses, offal, and removal of specified risk materials (SRMs). During the processing at a plant, we wash the tools for dividing carcasses with hot water per a head of cattle. Carcasses produced are then cleaned several times by means of steam pasteurization and organic acid rinses (using acetic acid and lactic acid) for sterilization. The U.S. allows a processing plant to operate only after the USDA’s inspectors have confirmed that the plant appropriately performs all of the processes. So the USDA’s inspectors are stationed permanently at plants to ensure stringent quality control.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare collaborate and inspect imports to Japan

Japan sets strict import standards as well. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is primarily responsible for preventing invasion of infectious diseases in Japan, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) is mainly in charge of preventing sanitation hazards. The two ministries collaborate to implement the control. Specifically, the Animal Quarantine Service of the MAFF inspects imported livestock products to prevent infectious diseases from infecting domestic animals via livestock products from overseas, based on the Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control. In the case of an outbreak of an infectious disease in a foreign country, the authority would temporarily suspend imports and exports of livestock products.

Once the food has undergone inspections by the Animal Quarantine Service, a food import notification must be submitted to a quarantine service of the MHLW according to the Food Sanitation Act. Then the imported items goes through a judging process where food sanitation inspectors review them and determine whether the items require a further inspection. This process is aimed at preventing sanitation hazards that result from eating or drinking the items.

Assuring safety according to the U.S. and Japanese standards, which are based on the international standards

Yoshinoya employees visit a plant to check and audit fodder and plant systems

Again, we at the Yoshinoya Holdings Group only source beef that satisfies all of the international, U.S. and Japanese standards to serve it to customers. Our employees visit a plant to check and audit whether the beef is safe, while also building relationships with meat packers (in FY2020, we temporarily suspended plant visits due to COVID-19.). This is because taking the initiative rather than entirely relying on suppliers is the best approach to pursue safety and security and economic rationality.

As for traceability, each freight exported to Japan comes with a health certificate issued by the USDA, which enables information sharing among relevant governmental organizations. This helps swiftly track and identify the item if any problem arises, ensuring the safety of beef. Of course, when we visit the sites, we also check the safety framework by ourselves, including the feedstuff used at farms and checking of plant systems. Assuring safety also involves Japanese units of meat packers and trading companies specialized in beef imports. Through the exchange of information with all parties in the industry, we dedicate ourselves to stable sourcing of safe beef that consumers in Japan can buy with no worries.

Yoshinoya’s beef undergoes at least five major strict checking processes

As already mentioned, the Yoshinoya Holdings Group sources the American beef based on a framework consisting of multiple safety control systems in collaboration with relevant governmental organizations and partner companies. Here is the brief summary of the processes: Firstly, the USDA’s veterinarians inspect the cattle delivered to a meat packing plant from producers (contracted farmers) to determine whether they are healthy. Secondly, the USDA’s inspectors inspect carcasses, offal, and removal of SRMs as well as hygiene conditions at the plant. The safety control framework incorporates a hygiene test at meat packer’s lab, which represents the third checking process. Although the lab inspection takes place for each lot because of too much beef, all of its exports to Japan have health certificates by freight.

Additional stringent checking processes take place when the American beef arrives in Japan. The Animal Quarantine Service inspects the freight by actually opening the packages in the freight to check if they match the content described in a document. Then, the Animal Quarantine Service and the quarantine service of the MHLW review food import notifications and inspect the imported items, as seen above. These represent the fourth checking process.

Employees visually inspect each carcass at Yoshinoya’s plant

After temporary storage in cold storage, imported beef goes to the Yoshinoya Holdings Group’s plant, where qualified employees open all the packages and check the quality of the beef. Then we manage the production system and supply the beef to Yoshinoya stores at the plant, based on our unique Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Comprehensive Hygiene Management System that meets the Yoshinoya Production Standards. This is the fifth checking process. Moreover, this checking process includes a series of more detailed inspections: We check the volume of fat and the quality when slicing the beef. We also remove excessive muscle and fat on the beef manually. This trimming process serves as a checking procedure of the beef too and allows our employees to check the color, smell, and other conditions of each carcass to only select beef that satisfies Yoshinoya’s quality standards.

Never overlooking a problem requires us to think, “The beef may suffer from a problem somewhere.” You can imagine that something bad might occur during transportation, even if the processes in the U.S. took place perfectly. Nothing is absolute in the world, and so we inevitably need to have a system in place that can detect any problem quickly. Last but not least, employees at each Yoshinoya store make sure to visually check the conditions of the beef.

Multiple checking processes from delivery of cattle to delivery of beef to Yoshinoya’s plant

Achieving continuous and stable supply through partnerships with partner companies

We have up to this point introduced our efforts to ensure the safety and security of our beef. From here, we would like to explain the Yoshinoya Holdings Group’s initiatives to ensure a continuous and stable supply in the face of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 caused a temporary drop in the operating rate of processing plants in the United States. While the number of cattle provided by producers was unaffected, the supply of American beef fell for a certain period due to a shortage of personnel at processing plants. Although this decline was temporary, since we had already been facing a supply shortage due to the increasing global demand for beef, the stable sourcing of American beef became extremely difficult. Naturally, this became a business continuity risk as we require a large amount of beef, particularly short plate (beef rib), in our business.

Even in this environment, the fact that we had sourced American beef from several domestic partner companies proved effective in hedging this risk. The long years of business and partnerships with our partner companies helped us secure sourcing routes and maintain a stable supply even in times when sourcing was difficult. We will continue to deepen communication and trust with our partner companies to respond to changes in the sourcing environment.

We assess the quality of beef from an expert eye and give appropriate feedback to meat packers

The American processing plants continue to adhere to U.S. safety standards and proper processing practices even amid the pandemic. However, the temporary decline in our responsiveness led to new challenges in maintaining stability and consistency in the processing step that conforms to each business partner's standards. For instance, it became difficult to maintain a consistent standard in the lean to fatty meat ratio or how the meat was cut. This is not an ideal situation for meat packers. For us, too, if they supply beef that does not meet Yoshinoya standards, it could spoil the taste of our beef bowls. So, even if the supply volume and price are stable, this does not immediately mean that “stable supply” is guaranteed.

We have established a comprehensive check system to prevent the risk of such blurring of standards. At Yoshinoya Holdings Group plants, not only the plant staff but also the members of our Product Department's Livestock Team have visited each plant to check the quality of beef supplied by each meat packer. Even amid the pandemic, we were able to improve the quality of our beef by conducting verifications of beef that did not meet the standards with our partner companies, and providing candid feedback to the U.S. meat packers.

During normal times, our employees will regularly visit meat packers to request compliance with the standards by making sure that they have an understanding of Yoshinoya beef bowls and the meaning of the standards we require. However, in times of the pandemic when travel is restricted, it is crucial to strengthen communication with them by providing them accurate and appropriate feedback as beef professionals. We believe that this will support suppliers in solving their quality control challenges and maintain a stable supply.