ID :
191388
Mon, 06/27/2011 - 18:53
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https://oananews.org//node/191388
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S. Korea agrees to lift ban on Canadian beef imports
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL (Yonhap) - South Korea has agreed to resume beef imports from Canada, lifting its eight-year ban imposed following an outbreak of mad cow disease in the North American country, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.
Under the agreement, South Korea will resume importing Canadian beef and bones from cows that are aged 30 months or less, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Any fresh or processed beef products containing specified risk materials, including tonsils, internal organs and intestines, that pose the greatest risk of passing on mad cow to humans, will continue to be banned, along with brains, skulls, eyes and spinal cords.
Any mechanically recovered meat, meat extracted using an advanced meat recovery process or ground beef will also be banned due to the possibility that it could contain prohibited materials, said Park Chul-soo, director general of the ministry's food safety and consumer affairs policy bureau.
"In addition, the countries agreed our government will (independently) inspect and approve Canada's meat processing facilities that will handle beef bound for our country," Park told a press briefing.
The agreement comes after four prolonged rounds of negotiations that began in November 2007. The agriculture ministry will publish a public notice of its agreement to resume Canadian beef imports later Tuesday and request the country's National Assembly to review the agreement after the required 20 days of public discussions, he added.
South Korea banned Canadian beef imports in 2003 when the North American country reported its first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Canada gained the status of a "BSE controlled risk" country from the World Organization for Animal Health in 2007, but South Korea refused to open up its beef market as Ottawa reported 17 additional BSE cases since 2003 with the last case reported in February this year.
Canada asked the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement panel in 2009 to look into South Korea's ban on its beef exports. The panel was set to produce its draft report on July 7 and its final report on Aug. 11, but Canada has agreed to ask the WTO panel to temporarily suspend its proceedings and then completely withdraw its complaint against South Korea if the latter resumes receiving beef imports within the next 12 months.
Park noted the dispute settlement process may have tipped the Seoul government to quickly strike a deal with Ottawa, but claimed no holes were left in the agreement that possibly could trigger a series of protests similar to those that followed an agreement to resume U.S. beef imports early 2008.
"In case an additional BSE case is reported in Canada, we can first halt quarantine inspections on Canadian beef imports and then ban further imports if our study shows there is a threat to the health and safety of our people," the ministry official said.
He added the agreement with the United States only depicts international norms, which say the country "could" impose an import ban when there is a serious threat to the public's health.
The official also said no BSE case has been reported in Canadian cattle born after 2007, when the country began enforcing new regulations on animal feed that prohibited the use of beef, blood or other animal litter to feed animals.
Canada hopes its beef shipments to South Korea will be resumed before the end of the year, according to Park, who said the target date was not impossible to achieve.
In 2002, Canada exported to South Korea 12,000 tons of beef, worth about US$31 million and accounting for about 4 percent of all of South Korea's beef imports that year.
SEOUL (Yonhap) - South Korea has agreed to resume beef imports from Canada, lifting its eight-year ban imposed following an outbreak of mad cow disease in the North American country, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.
Under the agreement, South Korea will resume importing Canadian beef and bones from cows that are aged 30 months or less, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Any fresh or processed beef products containing specified risk materials, including tonsils, internal organs and intestines, that pose the greatest risk of passing on mad cow to humans, will continue to be banned, along with brains, skulls, eyes and spinal cords.
Any mechanically recovered meat, meat extracted using an advanced meat recovery process or ground beef will also be banned due to the possibility that it could contain prohibited materials, said Park Chul-soo, director general of the ministry's food safety and consumer affairs policy bureau.
"In addition, the countries agreed our government will (independently) inspect and approve Canada's meat processing facilities that will handle beef bound for our country," Park told a press briefing.
The agreement comes after four prolonged rounds of negotiations that began in November 2007. The agriculture ministry will publish a public notice of its agreement to resume Canadian beef imports later Tuesday and request the country's National Assembly to review the agreement after the required 20 days of public discussions, he added.
South Korea banned Canadian beef imports in 2003 when the North American country reported its first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Canada gained the status of a "BSE controlled risk" country from the World Organization for Animal Health in 2007, but South Korea refused to open up its beef market as Ottawa reported 17 additional BSE cases since 2003 with the last case reported in February this year.
Canada asked the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement panel in 2009 to look into South Korea's ban on its beef exports. The panel was set to produce its draft report on July 7 and its final report on Aug. 11, but Canada has agreed to ask the WTO panel to temporarily suspend its proceedings and then completely withdraw its complaint against South Korea if the latter resumes receiving beef imports within the next 12 months.
Park noted the dispute settlement process may have tipped the Seoul government to quickly strike a deal with Ottawa, but claimed no holes were left in the agreement that possibly could trigger a series of protests similar to those that followed an agreement to resume U.S. beef imports early 2008.
"In case an additional BSE case is reported in Canada, we can first halt quarantine inspections on Canadian beef imports and then ban further imports if our study shows there is a threat to the health and safety of our people," the ministry official said.
He added the agreement with the United States only depicts international norms, which say the country "could" impose an import ban when there is a serious threat to the public's health.
The official also said no BSE case has been reported in Canadian cattle born after 2007, when the country began enforcing new regulations on animal feed that prohibited the use of beef, blood or other animal litter to feed animals.
Canada hopes its beef shipments to South Korea will be resumed before the end of the year, according to Park, who said the target date was not impossible to achieve.
In 2002, Canada exported to South Korea 12,000 tons of beef, worth about US$31 million and accounting for about 4 percent of all of South Korea's beef imports that year.
