June 3, 2008

US firms to label beef exported to South Korea

US beef companies announced Monday (June 3, 2008) they would now label shipments to South Korea that would state the age of the cattle at slaughter in response to street protests over mad cow disease concerns in US beef.

Nearly 60,000 people took to the streets of Seoul over the weekend to denounce the government and call for the import agreement to be scrapped.

In a joint release, US meat giants such as Tyson Foods Inc, Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., JBS Swift & Co., National Beef Packing Co. and Smithfield Beef Group Inc., said the labels would show whether the cattle were younger or older than 30 months when slaughtered.

US beef has been banned by South Korea for most of the past four and a half years over fears of mad cow disease.

Beef from younger cattle are believed to be at lesser risk from mad cow disease and South Korea has been imposing a 30-month age limit for US beef for the past year after it tentatively allowed US imports.

A recent decision by Korean authorities to allow US beef imports with no age restrictions sparked street protests in the country, with concerned consumers and farmers demanding that the agreement be rescinded.

Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said the companies are making this offer in response to the concerns of some South Korean consumers as a way of ensuring the reopening of the market and attempting to rebuild the confidence of the South Korean consumer.

In 2003, before mad cow disease caused South Korea to ban US beef, the country was the third largest international market for the US and represented 15 percent of Tyson's US$2.2 billion international sales, Mickelson said.