Korea to lift import ban on Canadian beef

By Kim Tae-gyu

Korea agreed to import Canadian beef products in spite of a recent outbreak of mad cow disease there with the first shipment expected late this year. In return, Canada is set to drop its complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF) said Monday that Asia’s No. 4 economy will resume imports of Canadian beef, ending an eight-year ban generated by mad-cow disease outbreaks in Canada in 2003.

“We checked that no part of the slaughtered cow in question was traded in the food chain for both humans and animals. Accordingly, we thought that beef products from cattle aged less than are 30 months are safe,” MIFAFF Director General Park Chul-soo said.

“On top of brains, eyes, spinal cord and specified risk materials (SRM), other by-products will not be imported regardless of age. These mark stricter restrictions compared to those with the United States.”

Young cows are believed to be less susceptible to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, and this is why Korea maintains the same 30-month age limit on U.S. beef. Prions that result in the lethal disease are thought to concentrate on some meat products dubbed SRM.

“If additional BSE is detected in Canada, we can stop quarantine inspections, which will stop imports for a certain time,” Park said.

The resumption needs to win approval at the National Assembly. After that, the ministry will designate exporters in Canada who can send their products to Korea by on-the-spot inspections. These are expected to take half a year, which means the first imports would be possible in late 2011.

MIFAFF plans to announce the decision today, which is supposed to prompt the Canadian government to suspend its request for a WTO dispute settlement panel to review Korea’s imports prohibition.

Canada filed the WTO complaint against Korea in early 2009 as the latter did not lift an import ban on its beef products even after it earned a positive controlled-risk status over BSE in 2007 from the World Organization for Animal Health.

Should Seoul resume imports within the next 12 months the WTO action has to be dropped.

The ministry claims that the measure would not weigh much on domestic farmers, but there is concern that they could suffer a double blow after the foot-and-mouth disease disaster (FMD).

“We know that our farmers are suffering trouble as the demand for Korean beef is weak after the FMD outbreak. However, the market for imported beef and Korean meat is different as the latter has the image of a premium product,” Park said.

“Furthermore, the imports of Canadian beef will not be that big in consideration of the fact that we imported 12,000 tons in 2002, about 4 percent of overall inbound shipments.”

FMD started late last year in Korea and spread to across the country. The government culled millions of animals to stop the highly-contagious epidemic. Eventually, it ended up lessening demand for Korean beef, dubbed hanwoo.