r/japan • u/imaginary_num6er • 4d ago

McDonald’s Japan suspends beef burger sales in Hokkaido

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/mcdonalds-japan-halts-sales-of-some-burgers-in-hokkaido-amid-concerns-over-beef-patties
178 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

112

u/Due_Tomorrow7 4d ago

It would be nice if they weren't so incredibly vague.

Like, what is this "quality issue" they're speaking of? Is it a health concern issue? Taste issue? Size or shape? Ingredients?

28

u/ragequitteroffureh 4d ago

Probably a mixup at the airport. So they received the 100% pure c-c-c-cocaine patties.

10

u/Due_Tomorrow7 4d ago

Well, you can't spell the kanji for "drug" without "fun".

7

u/ughit 4d ago

Calm down there Dr. Rockzo. ⛰️ ❄️

3

u/ragequitteroffureh 3d ago

It's metal to like clowns :o)

9

u/ClemFandango6000 4d ago

Many people don't know this but burgers are actually a great natural source of cocaine. They actually de-coke the burgers in a lab before they make it onto your plate.

10

u/ragequitteroffureh 4d ago

I didn't know that.

WIFE! Fire up The Machine! Tonight we dine in outer space!

3

u/sdjsfan4ever 4d ago

Did not expect to come across a Dr. Rockso reference in this sub.

0

u/Rikki-Tikki-Tavi-12 2d ago

The animal they were made from has gone extinct.

35

u/JustAnotherJapanChan 4d ago

Just bring back the quarter pounder, samurai mac ain't it

23

u/Hearthian-Wanderer 4d ago

For real... At least give us the option to replace the sugar glaze with ketchup!

2

u/KimJongUgh 2d ago

In the McDonald’s app you can do without sauce.

3

u/deko_boko 4d ago

I like the Samurai Mac 😿

4

u/Hat_Maverick 4d ago

Yeah it was good

1

u/axitanull 4d ago

Yeah it actually has flavor compared to whatever they made out of the usual beef.

57

u/kkyonko 4d ago

They buying beef from the US?

41

u/Deadcoach 4d ago

can confirm. boxes are labeled as imported from the US. fun fact: the chicken nuggets are from Thailand

18

u/Cereal-Bowl5 4d ago

I think Famichiki is also from Thailand

1

u/imaginary_num6er 3d ago

(Famichiki please)

5

u/PicoPicoGamer 3d ago

The not-so-fun fact is WHY the chicken nuggets are from Thailand

3

u/OsakaWilson 3d ago

Cost reduction?

4

u/PicoPicoGamer 3d ago

Oh I wish it were that fun. About a decade-or-so ago there was a very massive food scandal that took place in China which included the supplier who provided chicken for McDonald's, Family Mart and others. They were caught mixing old rotten meat in with fresh meat, meat was falling to the factory floor and then being put back onto the production line, and the workers extended/falsified expiration date labels and because of that rotten meat was sold as fresh.

After that news broke out, Mcdonald's, Family MArt and some other places halted sales of all chicken products for months afterwards while they looked for a new supplier. Eventually they found a supplier in Thailand and chicken went back on the menu. But there was no chicken for a pretty decent length of time. McDonald's even experimented with tofu nuggets to see if it would make up for not having chicken nuggets.

Anyway this is one of the big reasons why I don't eat anything that says it was made in China.

17

u/VR-052 [福岡県] 4d ago

American(and Australian beef) are actually really common in Japan. At any market there is always cheaper imported beef next to domestic beef.

22

u/robes32589 4d ago

They had to spend a ton of money to convince the public for years that American beef is safe. I mean...it's not.

-12

u/dosko1panda 4d ago

It's not that bad

31

u/robes32589 4d ago

It is now. Trump canceled mandatory testing.

8

u/Akeshi 3d ago

And it was never great before that, standards and controls were much laxer than other developed countries.

8

u/Any_Calligrapher8537 3d ago

It's literally BANNED in Europe because it's so bad....

-15

u/lostinelydan 4d ago

As if Australian beef is any better? It’s cheap for a reason… (also, most of their chicken is washed in chlorine)

6

u/robes32589 4d ago

I always thought they got their beef for NZ. I might be wrong.

7

u/Due_Tomorrow7 4d ago

It's an extremely low-amount of chlorine, diluted heavily. Australia isn't the only country to do that either.

You consume way more chlorine going to a swimming pool.

Relax.

1

u/Simonoz1 3d ago

Yeah ours is pretty decent.

I think the main difference is we tend to go for grass rather than grain fed and tend to prefer a leaner beef.

2

u/Lighthouse_seek 2d ago

Australian beef is cheap because they have a lot of ranching land but only 7% of the population of the US

11

u/smeeagain93 4d ago

They are buying beef from everywhere. Buying beef from the US isn't generally the issue since wherever McDonalds Japan buys from, it needs to meet Japans food standards.

Now the issue here could be cooling chain disrupted, food got contaminated on the way or there was actually a mix up and beef not meeting the standard made its way in.

16

u/Beneficial-Maize-669 4d ago

They probably got stuck with Trumps poison beef and realized they would get in big trouble if anyone in Japan got sick

6

u/Flope 4d ago

McDonald's Japan uses beef from the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.

Have to be sure it speaks English after all.

https://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/cservice/list.beef/

6

u/redsterXVI 4d ago

It's kinda crazy. In many European markets (maybe most, maybe all, who knows) they strongly advertise using domestic beef only. But in Japan they source it from two other continents.

2

u/IRockIntoMordor 4d ago

Which is funny because as a German, that "100% local beef" is ingrained from their marketing. But when you look at the chicken, it's 25% Europe, 25% Asia and 50% Brazil. And that's pretty insane for something that should be abundant in Germany. But Asia and Brazil do it cheaper.

How much is a 20 McNugget box? 14€?

3

u/Virtualization_Freak 3d ago

Holy fuck. A 15 nugget box is ¥740 yen in Japan.

0.27€ per nug in Japan, 0.70€ nug at €20/€14.

10

u/donarudotorampu69 [東京都] 4d ago

Where’s the beef?

7

u/highgo1 4d ago

Sir, this is a McDonald's.

12

u/Hazzat [東京都] 4d ago

More importantly, today they changed Donald McDonald’s name to Ronald.

4

u/Bloodshoot111 [ドイツ] 4d ago

He was called Donald in Japan?

3

u/JpnDude [埼玉県] 3d ago

Years ago, there used to be Ronald McDonald playing cards. They were called ドナルド•トランプ. True story.

https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/cont/articles/3263288/amp/

3

u/redsterXVI 4d ago

Well, donarudo

2

u/Bloodshoot111 [ドイツ] 4d ago

Interesting, here he was always called Ronald

1

u/The-very-definition 4d ago

He was, he still is too.

3

u/waytooslim 4d ago

Wow, it seems to be true! My Japanese wife was devastated when I first told her his name was Ronald and not Donald. All localizations tend to end up being awkwardly reverted like this, when will they learn?

1

u/SoundPilot90 4d ago

Maybe trump sent some of that beef from Argentina to japan

1

u/RottenPingu1 3d ago

Garbage food.

-19

u/justwatchthefire 4d ago

Who still eat mc donalds really???? It is not even food!!

18

u/redditscraperbot2 4d ago

Yeah you're not getting an invite to my McDonald's birthday party this year.

7

u/RickySuezo 4d ago

People who loves McDonald’s are infinitely better than people who hate McDonald’s.

-5

u/justwatchthefire 4d ago

Says ronald mc donald the clown lol

0

u/redditscraperbot2 3d ago

That would be wildly out of character.

-7

u/kumanoodle 4d ago

Was the issue that it was beef from China? 🙄

4

u/przemub 4d ago

It’s American!