U.S. beef not welcome in Korea or Japan
South Korea and Japan have strict rules about what kind of North American beef they will import, after several years of acrimonious debate about BSE (mad cow disease).
There is even a U.S. meat company in Kansas that wants to test their cows to provide evidence that their beef comes from BSE-free cows. But that is illegal! USDA argues that such evidence would be unfair to other meat companies that are not testing cows... Of course Korean and Japanese importers are not particularly impressed by such logic.
Instead, the U.S. government has hijacked the OIE, an agency that didn't deal with BSE until the U.S. asked them to, and changed the rules for what is considered "BSE-free" or, as OIE now states, "controlled risk". Sounds safe? Well...
The "controlled risk" classification is an intermediate level, which is placed between "undetermined risk" for countries vulnerable to mad cow disease and "negligible risk" for countries free from the risk of BSE.
U.S. consumer advocates are sounding the alarm over potential risks of consuming U.S. beef. Their criticism highlights the alleged laxness of the USDA in screening cattle at risk of being infected with BSE. The USDA was supposed to test the highest risk animals, said the New York-based Consumers Union. "However, it is plain from a report by the USDA’s Office of the Inspector General that many animals tested were not those with the highest risk."
Adding to the chorus of concern, the Washington-based Public Citizen said a common situation described in U.S. slaughterhouses’ violation of rules on the removal of specified risk material (a critical factor for mad cow disease) is when over-30 month and under-30 month cattle are processed simultaneously, without adequate rinsing or sanitation of equipment.
Last Thursday, Wendy Cutler, chief U.S. negotiator in FTA talks with Korea, criticized Korea’s policy to import only boneless beef. But it seemed that she was hesitant about eating the rejected U.S. beef, which is in storage at Incheon International Airport. Korean Internet users proposed that she eat the meat herself, according to Korean media.
Mad Cow blog has more updates, if you can stomach it.
There is even a U.S. meat company in Kansas that wants to test their cows to provide evidence that their beef comes from BSE-free cows. But that is illegal! USDA argues that such evidence would be unfair to other meat companies that are not testing cows... Of course Korean and Japanese importers are not particularly impressed by such logic.
Instead, the U.S. government has hijacked the OIE, an agency that didn't deal with BSE until the U.S. asked them to, and changed the rules for what is considered "BSE-free" or, as OIE now states, "controlled risk". Sounds safe? Well...
The "controlled risk" classification is an intermediate level, which is placed between "undetermined risk" for countries vulnerable to mad cow disease and "negligible risk" for countries free from the risk of BSE.
U.S. consumer advocates are sounding the alarm over potential risks of consuming U.S. beef. Their criticism highlights the alleged laxness of the USDA in screening cattle at risk of being infected with BSE. The USDA was supposed to test the highest risk animals, said the New York-based Consumers Union. "However, it is plain from a report by the USDA’s Office of the Inspector General that many animals tested were not those with the highest risk."
Adding to the chorus of concern, the Washington-based Public Citizen said a common situation described in U.S. slaughterhouses’ violation of rules on the removal of specified risk material (a critical factor for mad cow disease) is when over-30 month and under-30 month cattle are processed simultaneously, without adequate rinsing or sanitation of equipment.
Last Thursday, Wendy Cutler, chief U.S. negotiator in FTA talks with Korea, criticized Korea’s policy to import only boneless beef. But it seemed that she was hesitant about eating the rejected U.S. beef, which is in storage at Incheon International Airport. Korean Internet users proposed that she eat the meat herself, according to Korean media.
Mad Cow blog has more updates, if you can stomach it.
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