South Korea has told the Bush administration it will not resume beef trade until U.S. slaughterhouses segregate Canadian beef products, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
South Korea closed its borders to U.S. beef in December 2003 after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was reported. The United States has since brought into effect a number of food preparation safeguards but South Korean government officials are concerned about the effects of mingling U.S. and Canadian beef.
Canada, which confirmed its sixth home-grown case of mad cow disease on Tuesday, ships cattle and beef from animals under 30 months old into the United States. It has seen twice as many cases of mad cow as the United States, which has a much larger herd.
"The Korean audit team found problems in U.S. slaughter procedures, such as the (lack of) segregation of Canadian beef," the source said. "Seoul is discussing and waiting for the U.S. to take measures on that issue. Any time the issue is solved (it will) start importing U.S. beef."
So, another Canadian cow with BSE stops American producers from gaining another export market. This just shows why we should have COOL here in the US. If the cattle were required to be segregated by country at the packing plant for COOL, South Korea's requirement would be met. But the USDA and the meat packers don't want COOL so we are stuck with the situation as is.
The export market for American beef to South Korea held up by Canadian cattle. I didn't realize the USDA's mission was to protect Canadian Cattlemen.
When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself. Isaac Bashevis Singer
