Beef ban back due to problem shipments

Korea has suspended quarantine inspections of U.S. beef pending a full investigation into two mislabeled shipments, the government said yesterday. The two shipments, containing 66.4 tons of American beef, are being sent back because they were processed for the U.S. market, not the Korean market, and did not meet the export verification standards agreed upon by Seoul and Washington last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said. U.S. meat processors must follow the standards when exporting beef to Korea.
“The United States notified Seoul over the weekend that two shipments of beef were not meant for export, but were processed for domestic consumption,” said Kim Chang-seob, chief veterinary officer at the ministry said. He said Richard Raymond, undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Agriculture Department, sent a letter to Seoul with the findings.
Kim, who said “strange bar codes” were found on the labeling form of the two shipments, stressed that until a satisfactory answer is received, Seoul will not accept any U.S. beef. He added that four facilities at Cargill Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. will be barred from sending beef to Korea for the time being. Tyson shipped 51.2 tons of meat that should have been sold in the United States.