South Korea to evaluate outbreak of mad cow disease in US

South Korea has sent an inspection team to the US on a ten-day visit to evaluate the outbreak of the mad cow disease in California, in response to growing domestic concerns about the safety of beef imports.

The nine-member team includes government officials, representatives from local consumer advocacy groups and academicians, who will visit slaughterhouses, dairy farms and meatpacking plants to evaluate the safety of US beef.

South Korea is the fourth largest beef export market for the US, importing 107,000t of beef in 2011. After a case of mad cow disease was confirmed in a dairy cow in California on 23 April, strong public concern over the safety of imports has emerged.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said that imports of US beef will not be suspended, which however drew flak from civic groups and the general public.

Rather than imposing a ban, the government said that it would increase the number of quarantine inspections on US beef from 3% to 50%.

Senior press secretary Choe Geum-nak said that judging from the information the government has collected so far, it believes stricter quarantine inspections are sufficient.

After the ten-day tour, the inspection team will submit further recommendations to the South Korean Government.

Last week, Indonesia suspended the import of some types of beef from the US, but said the ban will be relaxed as soon as the US provides scientific proof that its meat and meat products are safe for human consumption.

Following the Indonesian ban, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stepped up assurances that the case of mad cow disease is atypical and it would not spread through feed to other cattle.

Currently, South Korea imports beef from US cattle less than 30 months old, with all specified risk materials (SRMs), parts of animal capable of transmitting mad cow disease or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, removed.

South Korea imposed a ban on US beef imports in 2003 following the outbreak of mad cow disease and resumed imports in 2008.

Mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) leads to death in cows, and can cause a deadly brain disease in people who consume infected parts of the animal.