Gov`t Tightens Quarantine Inspection Rules

The government will strengthen biopsies on samples of U.S. beef cuts including tongue and intestines by coming up with detailed inspection standards on specified risk materials (SRMs).

The government has also expanded country of origin labeling rules to include childcare facilities, such as daycare centers and kindergartens, and small-sized restaurants serving less than 50 customers.

Beginning next month, all restaurants, food delivery services, and catering services must inform their customers of the country of origin of all dishes that contain beef, including broth and side dishes.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced Tuesday the new quarantine inspection rules and the country of origin regulations as follow-up measures for the additional negotiations on the resumption of U.S. beef imports.

According to new inspection guidelines regarding intestines, inspectors will extract five samples from a 120-centimeter-long intestine at an interval of 30 centimeters and inspect them with microscopes. If lymph nodes, called “Peyer`s patch,” are found in more than four samples, the government will conclude that U.S. exporters failed to completely remove the distal ileum, which is located at the end of the small intestine and one of the SRMs, from the small intestine and return the entire batch containing the materials to the United States.

Under the new origin of labeling rules, all eateries must notify customers of the origins of the beef, pork, and chicken they serve. The government will implement the new labeling law in July for beef and in December for pork and chicken. The Agricultural Ministry has also strengthened punishment for violators.

If a restaurant is found to mislabel the origin, its owners will be sentenced to up to three years in prison and be given a fine of up to 30 million won. And, those who do not label the origin or fail to follow the labeling method will be imposed a fine of up to 10 million won and have their operations suspended for a maximum of one month.

The ministry has also tightened quarantine inspection guidelines. When cattle’s tongue and intestines, located near SRMs, are imported, quarantine officials will conduct biopsies and inspect them after thawing the parts.

As for bone-in steak cuts, officials will look into whether the beef boxes have a “less than 30 months” label, along with checking export quarantine certificates that confirm the beef was processed according to the quality system assessment (QSA) program. If there are no such labels, the government will send back the shipments to the United States.

On the public notification of the new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards, Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said, “We did our utmost to assure the public. Now the government has exhausted all other means possible, we can no longer delay the notification.”

The government and the ruling Grand National Party will hold a meeting on Wednesday morning and fix the date for the promulgation of the new SPS standards.

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