Live! Battle of the beefsteaks

Imagine chef Emeril Lagasse squaring off with Alex Rodriguez over the delectability of prime rib.

Celebrities are center stage in the U.S. beef industry's efforts to win back Japanese consumers' confidence and its market share seized by Australian producers. It's a battle worth fighting.

Monday, U.S. beef returned to Japanese groceries for the first time since the country banned it after the first case of U.S.-detected mad-cow disease was discovered in late 2003.

Where U.S. beef once dominated, Australia cornered the market and apparently the devotion of Japanese celebrity chef Harumi Kurihara. She has been giving interviews promoting Australian beef and featuring articles about her down-under favorite in her magazine.

Meanwhile, Chicago White Sox slugger Tadahito Iguchi, second baseman for the 2005 World Series champion team, appeared at a recent Tokyo press event, crediting tastier U.S. beef for powering more than 1,000 career hits, including 14 home runs in his U.S. rookie season.

Japan was among 50 countries that banned U.S. beef after a Holstein in Mabton, Yakima County, was found to have the brain-wasting disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association estimates the industry, which previously exported 10 percent of its production, has lost about $6.3 billion in the past two years. In Washington state, beef producers exported about 20 percent of production, the industry estimates.

Japan's decision to permit imports of beef from cattle under 21 months old is key for restoring U.S. beef exports elsewhere. Already, other countries, such as South Korea and Taiwan, are said to be following Japan's lead. But high-level policy decisions are less emotional than those made in grocery meat aisles.

The door is now open, but the harder work starts.