USDA Announces QSA Implementation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture officially announced Wednesday the implementation of the voluntary quality system assessment (QSA) program, which verifies that beef exported to Korea is from cattle younger than 30 months.

The USDA also disclosed the 29 QAS-authorized workplaces inspected by the Agricultural Marketing Service in accordance with Korea’s QSA program.

The list of 29 suppliers includes seven Tyson Fresh Meats suppliers, three Cargill Meat Solutions suppliers, three National Beef suppliers and Nebraska Beef. They will begin slaughtering, packaging and processing of beef to be exported to Korea, starting Thursday local time.

It is expected to take about a month for U.S. beef to be exported to Korea under the new conditions to arrive in Korea.

sechepa@donga.com