'Yakiniku' restaurant sales recover pre-mad cow scare levels.

TOKYO, May 25 Kyodo

Sales at ''yakiniku'' grilled-beef restaurants have recovered levels seen before the outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan in September 2001, according to an industry survey report made available Sunday.

The recovery apparently reflects public confidence about the safety of beef due to the government's inspection of all beef sold for human consumption.

''Sales during holidays such as the Golden Week and the Obon seasons have recovered previous levels. It's clear that people are accepting yakiniku as a national food,'' said an official at the All Japan Yakiniku Association.

The report was based on a survey of credit card payments by customers at 102 of its member restaurants.

Compared against the base of 100 for the early part of September 2001, immediately before the discovery of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Japan, sales in the following month fell to an average 55.6% with a drop to 46.3% posted in one of the weeks that month.

However, sales gradually began to recover due to the government inspections on cows, and by March last year had almost recovered the levels in early September 2001.

Despite ups-and-downs caused by corporate beef-mislabeling scandals, average sales in August 2002, which is when yakiniku consumption usually rises, topped 100 for the first time, reaching 106.2%.

Some large declines were later seen partly due to the economic slump, but sales have been constantly exceeding 100% since January this year, the survey report showed.

The association will present the report at its general meeting scheduled Monday.

''Sales of beef at shops have also stopped falling since around fall last year. I think we can say that the BSE fears nationwide have abated,'' said Tatsuya Kakita, an adviser on food product labeling.