By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korea has revoked the trade permit of a U.S. beef processing plant after finding another package containing ribs, which are banned as one of the ``serious risk materials’’ (SRM) under its current guidelines, the government said Tuesday.
Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said that they revoked the trade permit of the meat processing plant run by Swift & Co., a decision that follows a prior warning against future violations of the import rules late last month.
Ribs were found in a 17.9-kilogram package out of the 15.5-ton shipment, which had been awaiting quarantine inspection in Busan since Aug. 10 when it arrived from the United States, according to the officials.
Seoul had imposed a total ban on U.S. beef imports after the confirmation of a case of mad cow disease in late 2003. It partially lifted the ban in 2006, allowing the import of boneless beef from cattle aged less than 30 months.
``We sent the 17.9-kilogram box containing ribs back to the U.S. factory and decided to place an export ban on it in the future,’’ a ministry official said. He added that Seoul would also send back the rest of the 15.5-ton shipment.
He said the ban on Swift & Co. would be maintained until Seoul and Washington agree on new guidelines, which many people here expect would allow the resumption of a full-scale import of all American beef.
However, private U.S. meat packaging facilities have shipped banned parts such as ribs and backbones, which are classified as SRMs, causing Seoul to temporarily halt import inspections several times in the past few months.
In July, for example, South Korea halted its quarantine inspections after detecting a package containing vertebral columns, also designated as a SRMs, though it resumed the inspections in less than a month.
But the South Korean government’s ``lukewarm’’ responses have been drawing criticism from the public. Under the current guidelines, Seoul could impose a total ban on all U.S. beef, bone-in or boneless, if SRMs are found in shipments.
``We do not understand why the government is so anxious to allow the U.S. beef import,’’ said Nam Ho-gyeong, head of the Hanwoo Association set up for the promotion of sales of Korean beef cattle. ``It is time when a more cautious approach is needed.’’