Experimental sales of beef clearly marked as coming from a cloned cow began Thursday at five selected retailers in Tokyo and the cities of Niigata and Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
The beef was also put on the menu of a Korean barbecue restaurant in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
Because of public criticism in April after it was discovered that beef from cloned cows was being sold without any labeling, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries decided to experiment to see how consumers would react when the meat's origins were fully disclosed.