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South Korea slapped a de facto ban on imports of U.S. beef

flounder

Well-known member
South Korea blocks beef from U.S.
6/4/2007 8:45:58 AM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea slapped a de facto ban on imports of U.S. beef today after recent shipments were found to have been intended for domestic consumption, not for export, the Agriculture Ministry said.

South Korea decided not to issue quarantine certificates for any U.S. beef until Washington provides an adequate explanation of why two recent shipments intended for domestic consumption were sent to South Korea and comes up with measures to prevent it from happening again, said Kim Do-soon, a ministry official.

South Korea asked Washington last week for an explanation after banned rib bones were found in two boxes of a 15.2-ton shipment from Cargill, a major beef producer, and suspended imports from the facility that processed the meat.

Washington sent a response Friday, saying the Cargill Inc. shipment and another recent 51.2-ton shipment from Tyson Foods Inc., another beef producer, were actually intended for domestic consumption, not for export, the ministry said in a statement.

South Korea, which had banned imports of American beef for three years since 2003 over mad cow fears, partially reopened its market last year, agreeing to import boneless meat from cattle younger than 30 months -- thought to be less at risk of carrying the illness.

"We decided to suspend issuing quarantine certificates until the U.S. explains why this has happened and comes up with a reliable measure to prevent it," said Kim, the ministry official.

Without a quarantine certificate, no imported meat can pass customs inspection.

The incident is expected to have a negative effect on U.S. efforts to get South Korea to open its beef market wider.

Although beef is not part of a recent free-trade agreement between the countries, Washington has demanded greater access to South Korea's beef market to help muster support for the pact, which still requires legislative approval.

South Korea announced late last month that it would hold talks with the United States about further easing its restrictions on imports of American beef and conduct a risk assessment of the meat in a possible step toward resuming imports of beef attached to bone.

The announcement followed a recent ruling by the World Organization for Animal Health that the United States was a "controlled risk nation," a category that means countries can export beef irrespective of the animal's age.

Washington seized on the announcement as proof that U.S. beef is safe.

The U.S. has been urging South Korea to further open its market, the third-largest U.S. beef destination after Japan and Mexico before the ban. In 2003 alone, South Korea bought about $813.2 million worth of American beef, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
From Jolley:
We’ve blown it again with the South Koreans. The Japanese, sitting right next door, are taking notes.

A senior Farm Ministry official with the Japanese government said on Thursday that Japan will prepare for bilateral talks on beef imports if and when the United States asks it to ease rules, but no such request has been made. Maybe a battered, bruised and embarrassed Johanns is holding off on making that request until we can prove to ourselves that we can get it right?

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=134870

I don't think we can get it right- we (the USDA and Administration) following the direction provided by the corporate multinationals haven't done anything right from day one, so why should we be able to start now...From USDA's faulty testing- to their failure to implement M-COOL- to USDA's move to force a government mandated NAIS on the most independent population left in the country-- to our current failures to allow Creekstone to test...

I see today where 12% of the citizens of Vermont want to secede from the United States because they believe it is a crumbling empire- totally controlled by the corporate world....

I have to agree with Newt- the entire government is dysfunctional- from the USDA, FDA, Immigration, etc- all the way thru...Every politician/bureaucrat owes a little allegiance to so many corporate entities that they can't function independently anymore....

"The government is not functioning. It's not getting the job done," said the former House speaker, who is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination. "Republicans need to confront this reality."

"Republicans have been branded with the label of incompetence."
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sandhusker said:
Maybe if the boys at the packer's shipping dock could read English....

When you see the Company involved You might be closer to being correct than anybody-- but sheeesh don't you think those one or two government inspectors that signed off on it could at least speak a little English- even in Mexifornia... :wink: :roll:


Beef News
Exporter, inspector to blame for slip-up in South Korea, USDA says

By Tom Johnston on 6/5/2007 for Meatingplace.com




USDA officials have named the exporter responsible for shipping U.S. beef intended for domestic use to South Korea, a mistake that prompted Seoul to ban beef imports from a Cargill Meat Solutions plant and a Tyson Foods plant.

Keith Williams, spokesman for USDA, told Meatingplace.com late Monday it was Am-Mex, a San Diego-based distributor, that had purchased 15.2 tons of beef from Cargill and 51.2 tons of Tyson — both "clearly labeled 'for domestic use only'" — and erroneously shipped them to Korea. (See Return to sender(s): S. Korea rejects 66 tons of U.S. beef on Meatingplace.com, June 4, 2007.)

"Am-Mex is not experienced in shipping to South Korea, and did not follow the established procedures specific to South Korea," Williams said. "As the name might indicate, they mainly ship to Mexico."

Human error also played a role. Williams said a USDA inspector, or perhaps more than one, should not have signed off on the shipments.

The agency is investigating what went wrong, and determining what types of reprimand will ensue. "We're taking the appropriate action," Williams said, declining to go into specifics.
 
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