hankyoreh

A shipment of U.S. beef arrived in South Korea on Monday, opening the door for the resumption of imports after a ban of more than three years due to concerns over mad cow disease.

The 6.4 tons of meat from Kansas at Incheon International Airport will undergo quarantine inspections, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said.

It is the first shipment of U.S. beef since three shipments totaling 22.3 tons from late October to December last year. All of those shipments were sent back because some packages contained bone chips.

"The frozen shipment containing 13 different cuts of beef are to be opened immediately for inspection since the importer has already filed a request," said ministry spokesman Lee Chang-buhm.

As agreed upon by the two countries, South Korea will check to see if the meat is from cattle under 30 months old and that there are no bone fragments, he said.

"All individual packages in the shipment will go through X-ray machines to make certain that there are no bone chips, and other tests will be conducted to make certain that the meat meets the country's health standards," the official said.

After imposing a ban on American beef in December 2003 following the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in the United States, Seoul agreed in January 2006 to allow imports of U.S. beef that does not have nonspecified risk materials (SRMs). SRMs, which pose the greatest risk of transmitting the disease to humans, include head bones, brains, vertebral columns, spinal cords, dorsal root ganglions and certain internal organs.

The ministry and the National Plant Quarantine Service said if no problems are found, the beef will be handed over to the local importer for sale. Depending on how fast the beef is marketed, it may be available before mid-May.

Quarantine authorities said even if bone fragments are discovered, only the package or packages containing them will be sent back.

The U.S. is pushing to get South Korea to lift its ban on bone-in beef such as ribs, which accounted for a large percentage of its exports before the mad cow case halted trade.

Agriculture Minister Park Hong-soo said while there were calls by some in the government for a "reasonable resolution" to the beef issue, care about quarantine matters is needed.

He stressed that as long as the no new rules agreements are reached, South Korea will only allow boneless beef imports.

Park added that a meeting of animal quarantine and beef safety experts planned for May 1-2 will touch on resolving the differences in the interpretation of boneless beef that had caused previous misunderstandings.

Washington's trade officials suspected that Seoul was using the boneless beef clause to block legitimate trade.

The meeting, arranged at the request of the U.S., could allow the U.S. side to call on Seoul to lift its ban on bone-in beef.

Seoul said such a move was not now possible and discussions on the issue could take place only after the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) releases its official mad cow risk assessment for the U.S. in late May.

The OIE is expected to give the U.S. a "controlled risk" status that will allow it to ship its beef more freely.

Park said any decision by Seoul on this issue will be based on recommendations by local scientists and health experts, and rules prevent the agriculture minister from interfering in the deliberations by experts.

Washington has said it will link the beef issue to the signing of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, negotiations on which concluded on April 2.

The Agriculture Ministry, meanwhile, denied media reports that the latest beef shipment came from an unauthorized meat processing plant in the U.S.

In a press release, the ministry said the beef from Creekstone Farm was in accordance with current import rules. While one of the shipments with bone chips last year came from Creekstone, Seoul has since decided to accept its exports.

"Of the 36 beef processing plants authorized to ship beef last year, all but one can can still do so," it said. The one banned meat processor was cited for shipping a package with a higher-than-acceptable level of dioxin in December.
Seoul, April 23 (Yonhap News)