Whale meat back on Osaka school lunch menus

Whale meat back on Osaka school lunch menus
©
Mainichi Daily News

30th November 2002

Children at public elementary schools in Ikeda will
be fed whale meat with their school lunches for the
first time in 23 years, education officials said Saturday.

Photo courtesy IFAW

Officials said they chose whale meat because of its high
protein value and to teach children about whaling, which
they claim has made a significant contribution to Japanese
food culture in particular through the ages.

If children show a liking for it, whale meat will remain on
the menu throughout the 2003 academic year that runs from
April 1 next year to March 31, 2004.

Whale meat was last on public school lunch menus in 1979,
but stopped after that with the International Whaling
Commission's ban on commercial whaling.

Photo courtesy IFAW

Thumbing its nose at criticism from much of the rest of the
world, Japan catches several whales yearly, claiming it does
so for research purposes. Ikeda's school lunch center
applied to the Japan Cetacean Research Center for permission
to use meat taken from whales ostensibly caught for research
on its menus.

Most of the whales caught for "research purposes" end up
being eaten.

The center gave the go ahead and Ikeda decided to use whale
meat again from Nov. 18. Whale meat is slightly more
expensive than beef.