Gone ‘Round Again
Following the outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States, Korean quarantine authorities have raised the level of their quarantine measures.
The Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on May 21 that it confirmed the outbreak of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) at a slaughterhouse in South Carolina, the United States and was tightening quarantine on beef imports from the United States.
As an emergency measure, Korean authorities will elevate the spot inspection rate for U.S. beef from 3 percent to 10 percent beginning from May 22.
They also requested epidemiological information from the U.S. government on this outbreak of atypical BSE and are considering whether or not to take additional action with respect to regulations and the results of a U.S. epidemiological investigation in a meeting of relevant organizations and experts.
Unlike typical BSE, which is caused by the consumption of contaminated feed, atypical BSE occurs very rarely and naturally in older cattle, usually when they are eight years of age or older, and there have been no cases of human infection of the disease from cows.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on the previous day that a test on cattle classified as unfit for slaughter under the nation’s routine BSE surveillance program confirmed the outbreak of atypical BSE in one cow raised in Tennessee, and the cow was dumped and did not enter a food chain.
Neither South Carolina nor Tennessee in the United States has slaughterhouses or processing plants authorized for export to Korea.