March 22, 2005

US working on safety measures to re-open Korean beef export market

United States is trying to convince South Korea to reopen its market for they are now confident that their beef is safe for consumption.

In order to convince South Korea to lift its ban, the US did a screening of 274,000 heads of cattle for mad cow disease and not one was found to be infected. US exports to South Korea figures to US$150 million a year before the ban.

There has been no problem of mad cow disease detected in December 2003 for they are strictly monitoring as per the officials.

Most of the beef exported by US producers are of younger animals which are less likely to catch any disease.

As per US in the case of South Korea, the beef issue would be looked at as a veterinary science issue.

South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said that alleviating safety concerns is the prime yardstick the country would use in determining when to open its market to US beef.