Nippon to let meat spin

Japan's Nippon Meat Packers is considering spinning off its meat operations, after a devastating beef mislabelling scandal sent consumer confidence plunging, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun​ said.

The company will likely shift to a holding company structure that would place its operations in ham, sausage, beef and processed products under its umbrella, according to the paper's online Tuesday edition.

Nippon Meat Packers hopes the structure would be more effective in its safety and quality management with executives of both the parent and group firms to be held responsible for each others' business practices, the paper said.

The company announced on Monday that its chairman and founder, Yoshinori Ohkoso, aged 87, will leave the firm after it revealed that its unit mislabelled its products to get money from a government buyback scheme. It was suffering from poor sales following an outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan last year.

The company has faced a fierce backlash after the mislabelling, resulting in plummeting sales due to major retailers yanking its products from the shelves.

The paper said the farm ministry will likely postpone to next month a decision whether or not to allow the firm to resume sales of its beef products.Nippon Meat was not immediately available to comment.