Korea increases mad cow testing, says no cases
Date: 05-Oct-01
Country: SOUTH KOREA
Author: Cho Mee-young
The Agriculture Ministry said the country was free of the disease but that it would test 1,000 head of cattle this year, 10 times the requirement of the industry's international ruling body.
Korea tested 600 cattle for mad cow disease last year.
South Korea banned livestock product imports from Japan on September 23 after Japan's farm ministry said tests had confirmed a single case of mad cow disease.
South Korea had imported just two tonnes of beef and 260 tonnes of cattle foot bones and bone ashes used to make pottery from Japan since lifting an earlier import ban in April, imposed after a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Japan early last year.
South Korea has said it was determined to restart pork exports shut off last year after it was hit with outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.
South Korea last month received a clean bill of health on foot-and-mouth disease, which can be fatal to animals although it is harmless to humans, from the Paris-based Office International des Epizooties (OIE).
The Agriculture Ministry said yesterday another sheep, imported from Canada in 1997, had tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). It confirmed in August one deer imported from Canada was infected with the disease.
CWD - like mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - belongs to the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) group of diseases. But CWD is not thought likely to be harmful to humans or other livestock.
Mad cow disease, which is believed to be transmitted through infected meat and bone meal fed to cattle, has been linked to the brain-wasting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans.
BULLISH SALES
Data on beef consumption in South Korea since Japan's mad cow disease case was announced on September 10 was not yet available. But wholesalers said sales for the October 1-3 harvest holidays were up from last year.
"Led by gift buyers, Lotte Department Store saw beef sales, mostly home-bred beef, rise by 20 percent," said Lee Sun-dae, manager of Lotte Shopping Co Ltd.
Lotte's Magnet discount store chain had a 10-percent increase in sales of home-bred and imported beef, he said.
Lotte tops the department store market with a 55-percent share, while Magnet is the country's second largest discount store chain at 25-percent.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation has said it expected Korea's beef consumption for 2001 and 2002 to fall to 355,000 and 400,000 tonnes from 402,400 tonnes last year due to economic worries and disease concerns.
Imports of frozen beef fell sharply between January and August to 99,391 tonnes from 148,484 tonnes a year earlier, data from the Korea Trade Information Services showed.
Imports of chilled beef also fell to 2,812 tonnes in the January-August period, from 3,586 tonnes a year earlier.
