March 15, 2006

South Korea delays US beef imports

South Korea will delay opening its market to US beef originally scheduled early next month following the confirmation of a mad cow case, a government official said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry official said Seoul will not impose a total ban because the animal hit by the disease is more than 10 years old.

On Monday, the US Department of Agriculture announced the third mad cow case in the United States.

An agreement between the two countries allows South Korea to impose a ban if a cow born after April 1998 contracts mad cow disease.

1998 was the year the US banned the use of animal protein-based feed, which was cited as a chief cause of mad cow disease.

Since the cow is more than 10 years old, the ban does not apply, the government official said.

However, the latest discovery, following another case last year, raised questions about how cattle are raised in the US, he said.