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The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which has drawn strong criticism from the public for having failed to properly negotiate with the United States on the resumption of imports of American beef, has also bungled the explanation for its mistakes.

The new criticism being launched at the ministry is that it agreed to ease the standards it uses to classify specified risk materials, which are most likely to cause mad cow disease, from cattle older than 30 months of age in the U.S.beef agreement. Under the agreement, South Korea’s standards are weaker than those used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE.

The ministry issued documents explaining its position three times on the evening of May 15. In the documents, the ministry said, “The classification standards for specified risk materials for mad cow disease were set in line with those of the European Union. The parts unfit for human consumption in the U.S. cannot enter South Korea.” However, the ministry is being accused of using the parts of the EU’s standards that support its stance and covering up the parts that show their mistakes.

The ministry argues that, under the new sanitary conditions for imports of U.S. beef, South Korea’s classification standards for specified risk materials are roughly the same as those used by the European Union, although they differ somewhat from U.S. standards. The standards of classification for specified risk materials adopted by South Korea and the European Union are similar in that they ban the same spinal cord parts. However, there is a critical difference in the South Korean standard, which categorizes only the ileum, the last section of the small intestine, of cattle of all ages as a specified risk material. The European Union, however, categorizes the entire small intestine, from the duodenum to the rectum, together with the mesentery, as specified risk material and bans it from human consumption.

If South Korea were to be in full compliance with the EU standard, it, too, would have to categorize the entire small intestine as a specified risk material and those parts would not be cleared for import. By citing only those parts of the EU standard that are helpful to its arguments, while turning its blind eye to the parts that are not, the South Korean ministry is being accused of employing a double standard to classify specified risk materials.

In addition, the government claimed that it had “used the regulations of the EU, which has a great amount of experience with mad cow disease, in its negotiations (with the U.S.).” The argument seems a bit faulty, however, because the EU changed its standards for specified risk materials on April 22, four days after South Korea agreed to resume imports of U.S. beef.

The ministry admitted that the import inspection standards used to classify specified risk materials, which it relaxed in the course of negotiating the beef deal, differ in part from U.S. standards. However, the ministry also argued that U.S. beef “for domestic sale (in the U.S.) and exports to South Korea is the same, so there should be no concerns that products unfit for human consumption in the U.S. may be exported to Korea.”

The ministry’s argument is based on the first article of the new sanitary conditions outlined in the beef agreement, which says that “beef and beef products include all cattle parts fit for human consumption under U.S. meat inspection rules.” However, unlike the first article, article nine has opened the door for dangerous animal parts to enter South Korea by specifically categorizing the extent of specified risk materials thought to cause mad cow disease.

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