January 8, 2004 Japan Economic Newswire

The Nagoya education board had planned three lunch menus for this month using U.S. beef at 260 elementary schools, four schools for the disabled and the sole junior high school serving lunch to students. However, it will change the beef-related items and use chicken or pork instead.

The board said it considered using beef from other countries but gave up the idea because it was not sure if it could secure adequate supplies, as Japan's inventory of beef from other countries has been falling.

Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, is Japan's fourth-largest city with a population of more than 2.1 million.