March 21, 2006

South Korea still has concerns about BSE in US

South Korea still has outstanding concerns about the latest case of mad cow disease found in the US and that may be delaying the process to resume beef trade, US industry and government officials said Monday (Mar 20).

South Korea is concerned about the age of an Alabama cow confirmed last week to have contracted mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), US Department of Agriculture and beef industry representatives said.

If the animal was young enough to have been born after US cattle feed safety rules were in place, that could cast doubt on the effectiveness of a key US safeguard against the disease.

USDA Secretary Mike Johanns acknowledged Monday that there may be some delay in resuming US beef exports to South Korea--once a major importer of US beef--but stressed that trade would resume.

"It appears to me that we are doing fine with South Korea," Johanns said. "They had questions after a third case (of BSE) was identified and that's not unusual. We will provide answers to those questions... It may take some time to get answers to whatever questions they have, but as far as I can tell, so far, so good."

South Korea banned US beef in December 2003 after the USDA announced finding the first BSE case in the US. Before the ban, the US exported US$815 million worth of beef to South Korea in 2003, according to USDA data.

Johanns said in January this year that he expected South Korea to ease its ban on US beef by the end of March, but that prediction was before the USDA announced finding the third case of BSE in the country.

A South Korean delegation was scheduled to arrive in the US this week to inspect the safety of beef-packing plants, but that may be delayed until next week because of the country's concerns over the latest BSE case, a US industry official said.