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US Beef Processing Needs Revising
The Korea Times
06-08-2006
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ South Korea has asked the U.S. to change its beef processing practices prior to Seoul’s removal of a ban on imports of American beef, a government official said Thursday.
Speaking on a local radio talkshow, Park Hyun-chool, the head of the agriculture ministry’s livestock bureau, said systemic problems discovered by inspectors during their inspection of 37 meat processing facilities in the U.S. last month need to be addressed.
The request is expected to postpone the planned lifting of a ban on the import of American beef for at least a month. U.S. beef had been expected to return to South Korean stores in late June.
“The U.S. does not consider the concerns voiced as being a problem, but from our view they are,” Park said. He said officials were looking into whether butchering processes across the United States needed to be changed, or just in those slaughterhouses intending to ship products to South Korea.
The former could require legislative action, subsequently causing further delay.
Seoul has raised concerns about U.S. slaughterhouses that butcher live cattle imports alongside animals raised in the United States.
Another point of concern is that while most U.S. beef processing facilities had two or more slaughter and processing lines, a few had only one line for processing the meat of all cattle, regardless of age.
The butchering of foreign animals is an issue since South Korea currently only allows beef from cattle raised in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, countries that have had no known outbreak of mad cow disease.
Experts said the butchering of animals brought in from Canada could pose a threat since that country has problems with the disease.
Seoul also said the use of a single butchering line could make it hard to determine if the meat is from cattle older or younger than 30 months old.
This practice of using the same tools to butcher animals over 30 months as used on younger animals risks cross-contamination.
Cattle over 30 months old have a higher risk of contracting mad cow disease than younger animals.
South Korea agreed in January to only import beef from cows under 30 months old because these were deemed safe. It has also said bone-in beef such as ribs cannot be imported into the country.
On the radio program, Park also said that South Korean officials were aware of recent U.S. media reports that animal-based protein feeds are still being used, despite the 1997 ban. One television report claimed that there had been 800 cases uncovered of animal-based protein feeds being used in the U.S. in recent years.
times.hankooki.com
The Korea Times
06-08-2006
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ South Korea has asked the U.S. to change its beef processing practices prior to Seoul’s removal of a ban on imports of American beef, a government official said Thursday.
Speaking on a local radio talkshow, Park Hyun-chool, the head of the agriculture ministry’s livestock bureau, said systemic problems discovered by inspectors during their inspection of 37 meat processing facilities in the U.S. last month need to be addressed.
The request is expected to postpone the planned lifting of a ban on the import of American beef for at least a month. U.S. beef had been expected to return to South Korean stores in late June.
“The U.S. does not consider the concerns voiced as being a problem, but from our view they are,” Park said. He said officials were looking into whether butchering processes across the United States needed to be changed, or just in those slaughterhouses intending to ship products to South Korea.
The former could require legislative action, subsequently causing further delay.
Seoul has raised concerns about U.S. slaughterhouses that butcher live cattle imports alongside animals raised in the United States.
Another point of concern is that while most U.S. beef processing facilities had two or more slaughter and processing lines, a few had only one line for processing the meat of all cattle, regardless of age.
The butchering of foreign animals is an issue since South Korea currently only allows beef from cattle raised in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, countries that have had no known outbreak of mad cow disease.
Experts said the butchering of animals brought in from Canada could pose a threat since that country has problems with the disease.
Seoul also said the use of a single butchering line could make it hard to determine if the meat is from cattle older or younger than 30 months old.
This practice of using the same tools to butcher animals over 30 months as used on younger animals risks cross-contamination.
Cattle over 30 months old have a higher risk of contracting mad cow disease than younger animals.
South Korea agreed in January to only import beef from cows under 30 months old because these were deemed safe. It has also said bone-in beef such as ribs cannot be imported into the country.
On the radio program, Park also said that South Korean officials were aware of recent U.S. media reports that animal-based protein feeds are still being used, despite the 1997 ban. One television report claimed that there had been 800 cases uncovered of animal-based protein feeds being used in the U.S. in recent years.
times.hankooki.com
