April 30, 2012

Despite confirmation of a new mad cow case in California, South Korea does not have plans to halt customs clearance of US beef, the country's farm minister said Friday (Apr 27).

Suh Kyu-yong said Washington sent a report providing details on the latest mad cow case and confirmed that the animal was a dairy cow over 10 years old and that it contracted a very rare "atypical" form of the brain wasting disease.

He said the findings showed that the animal did not get sick by consuming protein-based feed and died before entering the food chain. The minister added that under such circumstances there are no reasons for Seoul not to let US beef through customs. Halting customs clearance effectively prevents products from entering the local market.

Suh said the ministry's view was sent to the US government and pledged to take extra measures to assure local consumers that tainted meat does not come into the country. He said the government has ordered half of all US shipments to be checked, instead of 3% in the past.

The minister, meanwhile, said the government is looking into an option of sending a fact-finding team to the US to receive more details on the latest outbreak that was not provided by Washington. The latest mad cow case reported is the fourth to be detected in the US

Seoul had banned US beef imports in late 2003 after the first case was reported, but fully reopened the market in 2008 after long-drawn negotiations with Washington.