U.S. Beef Imports to Resume in June

It seems that the import of the U.S. beef will restart from the end of June.

It has been two-and-a-half years since an embargo was put on the imports of U.S. beef in December of 2003 after a cow infected with mad cow disease was found.

“On June 7, we are going to report the results of our visit and analysis of 37 U.S. beef processing sites for export,” said Park Hyeon-chul, director of the Livestock Bureau in the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry. “The U.S. beef can be imported around the end of June when we report our selection of safe sites to the U.S.”

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry dispatched eight quarantine officers to 37 beef export sites in the U.S. from May 6 to May 21 to check the hygiene management and safety system of these sites regarding mad cow disease.

Sun-Woo Kim sublime@donga.com