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Korea will return or destroy the third shipment of U.S. beef to reach the nation after a three-year ban was lifted as it contained bone fragments like the two preceding ones. In all, 22.3 tons of U.S. beef have now failed to meet requirements due to bone fragments since the country resumed beef imports from the U.S. in late October.
The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on Wednesday said naked-eye inspection of the 10.2 ton third shipment of U.S. beef confirmed seven bone fragments in three boxes. "Experts concluded that the bone fragments are not specified risk material¡± such as marrow bones linked to BSE or mad cow disease, ¡°but we decided to reject the third shipment according to the beef import quarantine conditions agreed by the two countries.¡±
The ministry added the bone fragments measured 0.3¡¿0.6§¯-0.7¡¿1§¯ but were as thin as 1 mm and were not discovered in X-ray inspection. The decision is likely to aggravate tensions over Seoul's beef quarantine measures in the current round of free trade negotiations in the U.S. state of Montana. Washington demands that Korea opens its market completely to U.S. beef products to guarantee conclusion of the trade pact and ratification by Congress.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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