hankyoreh

Korea began importing American beef again for the first time in three years and five months, when it was halted because of mad cow disease. American beef is now on our tables again after shipments were rejected and returned on three occasions last year when they were found to contain bone chips. interestingly enough, negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada started up again on the same day. Canada will probably make strong demands that Korea start importing its beef again, too, since an outbreak of mad cow disease in that country also led to a suspension of imports.

Imported beef is less of a commerce concern and more of an issue relating to the country’s health. There absolutely needs to be thorough safety devices in place to protect against the risk of mad cow. The specified risk matter (SRM) that can cause mad cow disease is not found in regular bones. However, there continues to be debate among scholars about the risk of ordinary bones, and that is why Korea is importing only boneless meat younger than 30 months old. The government, however, plans on allowing the importation of meat with bone chips if at the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) the United States gets declared a "country that is able to control the risk of mad cow."

It is offensive enough that the country is importing boneless meat, and we cannot accept the importation of beef with bone matter in it, whatever the OIE says. The U.S. still uses feed based on animals, which thus can spread mad cow disease, and the OIE has suggested this makes cross-contamination possible. Furthermore, it is livestock farmers who are being given the responsibility of inspecting for mad cow disease, and they are not using the kind of system that would allow you to trace a cow’s history. Now the government is hinting that it will allow imports of beef with bone matter in it. This resumption of American beef imports must not be followed with a move to allow this. Nothing can justify putting the people’s health at risk.

Since you cannot be sure of the safety of beef with bone fragments and even boneless beef, Korea needs stronger measures regarding the indication of country of origin. The Korean Food and Drug Administration looked into the matter and found that 14 percent of large barbeque restaurants are violating country of origin indication regulations, and those under 300 square meters are not even required to make the information available. This means that knowing where the beef being served to you is from is virtually impossible. You can’t feel safe about what you’re eating with the situation like this. Would not giving the people a choice to not eat American beef be the least the government can do, even if it has to constantly yield to U.S. demands about allowing the imports?


Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]