South Korea will put off lifting its ban on U.S. beef owing to insufficient measures by American meat processors to ensure product safety, an agricultural official said Tuesday.
The official, who declined to be identified, said Washington had forwarded set of changes it will make at meat processing facilities, but experts here are uncertain if such steps are adequate.
Seoul's reluctance to accept the changes will effectively put off the import date of American beef till after July.
"The proposal calls for meat processors to clean tools used to cut cattle older than 30 months old and those below this age," the official said. He stressed this is not a fundamental solution to possible contamination that may occur.
South Korea has maintained a ban on U.S. beef since late 2003 after a mad cow case was confirmed there. It agreed to lift the ban early in January after conducting on-site inspections.
The inspections in May, however, only highlighted shortcomings Seoul wants to resolve before allowing U.S. beef back into the country.
The problems cited by Seoul are facilities that butcher foreign cows along with those raised in the United States. In addition, while most of the 37 facilities examined had two or more butchering lines and tools to carve meat, a few had only one to process animals aged 30 months or younger.
The butchering of foreign animals is an issue since South Korea currently only allows beef from Australia, New Zealand and Mexico into the country. Seoul said using a single butchering line might make it hard to determine if the meat is from cattle older or younger than 30 months.
South Korea agreed allow beef from cows under 30 months old, which have little risk of being affected by mad cow disease, and said it will not allow bone-in beef such as ribs into the country.
Vice Agriculture Minister Lee Myung-soo said on a radio talk show earlier in the day that Seoul will only allow U.S. beef into the country after all beef processing facilities that want to sell to South Korea meet safety requirements.
Seoul, July 4 (Yonhap News)
S. Korea to delay lifting U.S. beef ban on safety measures |
