August 11, 2006

 

South Korea beef plant auditors seen to arrive in US on Aug 24 

 

 

A team of South Korean auditors is scheduled to arrive in the US on Aug 24 to begin reviewing several US beef producing plants where problems were found during a previous inspection, according to US government officials.

 

US government officials are hoping the audit will help pave the way for a resumption in US exports to South Korea, which was once the second largest foreign market for US beef.

 

The South Korean audit team was originally expected to come Aug 13, said a US Department of Agriculture official who asked not to be named. Scheduling problems arose though, and the team is now expected to arrive Aug 24.

 

South Korea and the US agreed to terms for trade to resume earlier this year, but US exports are still blocked because of concerns the South Koreans raised in May after auditing teams visited US packers. South Korea complained that six US plants did not segregate US and Canadian cattle and one US plant did not use separate equipment to cut up younger and older cattle.

 

South Korea has not lifted its ban on Canadian beef and South Korea wants to import US beef only from cattle under 30 months old, so it doesn't want tools used on the older cattle to be also used on the younger cattle.

 

US Department of Agriculture officials have been working with their counterparts in Seoul to address the concerns and the auditing team expected to arrive Aug 24 will be checking to make sure the country's concerns have been addressed.

 

There is, though, another divisive issue that has not yet been resolved between the US and South Korea. The US wants South Korea to agree on a tolerance level for any small bone fragments that might be discovered in US shipments. Bone fragments are a normal occurrence in large beef shipments, according to US industry representatives, and cannot be avoided.

 

But South Korea has agreed--in the deal struck with the USDA--to only buy "boneless" beef cuts and South Korea has resisted agreeing to accept the presence of bone fragments.

 

The discovery of bone fragments in US beef exports this year stopped Hong Kong from accepting US beef from some US suppliers.

 

South Korea originally banned US beef in Dec 2003 after the USDA announced finding the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in the US. South Korea imported about US$815 million worth of US beef in 2003, according to USDA data.