June 13, 2006

 

US, South Korea at odds over US beef plants

 

 

Negotiators are still unable to reach a deal to restart US beef exports to South Korea because of the Asian country's rejection of a "handful" of US plants, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Monday (Jun 12).

 

Johanns told reporters the US will demand that South Korea accept all US beef processing plants that have passed US audits as worthy to export to South Korea.

 

"We're not selling the merits of a given plant or a given company, we're selling the merits of the total system," Johanns said. "We don't want to send a signal to South Korea or any other trading partner that they can pick and choose from within the system."

 

Johanns said that any US plant approved by USDA needs to be accepted by South Korea.

 

Nevertheless, Joe Meng, a vice president of the Arkansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC, said he received a list of the US plants from which South Korea does not want to import. That list includes plants owned by Cargill, Swift & Company and Tyson Foods, three of the largest US beef producers.

 

Gary Mickelson, director of media relations for Tyson Fresh Meats said: "While there's a great deal of rumour and speculation, we have not received any word from the South Korean or US governments about the export status of any plant. We have great confidence in the safety of our products and look forward to the day when we can resume trade with South Korean customers."

 

Cargill Foods public affairs official Mark Klein said the issue at its Dodge City, Kansas, plant was related to an earlier issue with certain bone fragments showing up in product delivered to Hong Kong.

 

The problem at Cargill's Schuyler, Nebraska, plant is linked to the possibility that the facility could be close enough to Canada that it could get and slaughter Canadian cattle, Klein said. However, the USDA says cattle under 30 months of age coming from Canada are safe, he said.

 

Sean McHugh, vice president of communications for Swift & Company, while not commenting on the situation at any of its facilities, said the status of beef trade with South Korea is contingent on getting an agreed-upon bone-defect criteria and acceptance of the USDA's inspection process. Non-acceptance of a single plant is a non-issue, he said.

 

Also, McHugh said, no list of accepted and non-accepted plants had been released.

 

The USDA is trying to achieve an agreement that's in the best interest of the whole US industry, McHugh said.

 

South Korea banned US beef in December 2003 after the first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was discovered in the US. Before the ban, the US exported US$815 million worth of beef to South Korea in 2003, according to USDA data.

 

South Korea recently conducted a two-week audit of 37 US beef processing plants to see firsthand if they met standards for shipping beef to South Korea, which has pledged to initially only reopen its market to boneless cuts.