By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

The government vowed Tuesday to crack down on false beef labeling and tolerate importers' refusing to buy U.S. beef from cattle aged over 30 months that may have higher risks of mad cow disease.

The measure is intended to appease public anxiety that U.S. beef could be served to consumers against their will if restaurants fail to specify the country-of-origin of their meat.

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and leaders of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) announced these and other measures to protect consumers against ``risky'' U.S. beef ahead of the planned full opening of the market.

``Whether or not to import American meat from cattle aged over 30 months is up to the private sector (importers),'' a senior Cheong Wa Dae secretary told reporters.

Asked about the way of screening, the aide said, ``The government will ask American exporters to be cooperative in labeling the age of slaughtered cattle.''

The measure has come in a bid to placate the public anxiety on the fact that about 99 percent of mad cow disease was detected in cattle over 30 months old worldwide.

But his remarks invited criticism and scorn among civic groups.

``Even officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture sometimes fail to detect the exact age of cattle,'' an NGO official said. ``The priority goal of the U.S. is to dispose of risky meat via exports.''

He stressed that only meat from ``under-20 month'' U.S. cattle is being served to American consumers, adding ``little meat from cattle aged between 20 and 30 months is being distributed there.''

``The government has no statistics on the origin of beef which students eat at school cafeterias,'' a leader of the National Network for School Lunches said. ``We oppose U.S. beef imports until a full guarantee is made on its safety.''

According to a lobby group for American beef exporters, two out of three domestic restaurants are willing to serve U.S. beef for Korean customers.

In its survey of 997 restaurants in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, the U.S. Meat Export Federation found that 65.8 percent of the respondents said they would use U.S. beef for dishes.

The federation also said only 18.2 percent of them were unwilling to buy American meat.

kys@koreatimes.co.kr