By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korea has discovered an additional package of imported U.S. beef with banned ribs, just three days after the country revoked the permit of a U.S. beef processing plant for shipping risky material, according to the government Thursday.
Quarantine officials said that the government has revoked the permit for a plant run by Cargill Inc. for shipping the 13.3-kilogram box, which contained beef ribs, that has been waiting for inspections after arrival in Busan on July 23.
It is the third time in the past few months that the banned parts have been discovered in the U.S. beef shipment through quarantine inspections. Cargill is a firm that shipped a box of ribs to South Korea in May. So far, imports from four of its five plants have been banned.
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.
But private U.S. meat packaging facilities have shipped banned parts such as ribs and backbones, which are classified as ``specific risk materials (SRMs),’’ causing Seoul to temporarily halt import inspections several times in the past few months.
More recently, South Korea halted its quarantine inspections in July after detecting a package containing vertebral columns, also designated as SRMs, in the shipment made by Swift & Co., though it resumed the inspections in less than a month.
Seoul is set to hold negotiations for new import guidelines with Washington after President Roh Moo-hyun promised the resumption of full-scale beef imports before the effectuation of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
But even some ardent advocates of U.S. beef export are calling for reforms in their own beef shipments. U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, for example, called for more oversight of federal beef inspectors and beef exports this week.
Nelson, a Democrat, said Wednesday that he plans to send a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, a former Republican governor of Nebraska, asking for improved oversight, according to The Associated Press.
``I can't imagine that these errors continue to be made,’’ he told a press meeting, adding that food safety is not at issue. ``It's a compliance issue,’’ he said. ``It doesn't help our reputation when we can't get it right. It undermines our credibility.’’