First shipment of US bone-in beef arrives in S.Korea

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-29 16:53

SEOUL -- A shipment of 1.47 tons of US bone-in beef arrived in South Korea on Tuesday, the first time that South Korea resumes imports of such beef since December 2003.

According to local media, the shipment of US beef, which consists of choice cuts such as rifs, arrived by plane at Incheon International Airport at 2:30 am local time on Tuesday (1730 GMT Monday).

South Korea's National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said the initial inspection of documents and labelling of the beef have been concluded, stressing that all imports must meet the new age-verification quality system assessment (QSA) guideline reached by South Korean and US government in June and have export papers issued by the US Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Under quarantine and customs rules, the US beef will undergo about ten days of inspections before being released for sale next month.

South Korea had suspended all beef imports since December 2003 when a mad cow case was reported in the United States. In April 2007, the South Korean government agreed to resume boneless US beef imports. However, the government announced later to ban US beef imports again as bones were repeatedly discovered in the shipments to South Korea.

On April 18, South Korean and US officials reached an agreement of resuming US beef imports, including both boneless and bone-in cuts. The agreement triggered two-month-long nationwide protests against US beef imports in South Korea as protesters claimed worries over the spread of mad cow disease.

South Korea and the United States held additional talks and agreed in June to conduct more strict quarantine rules on US beef shipment in a bid to alleviate concerns in South Korea over the safety of US beef.