Anlmal,Plant and Flsherles Quarantine and Inspection Agency

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Wednesday said it will release new enhanced safety standards for Korean beef probably early next week, when it promulgates sanitary conditions for U.S. beef imports. Major points in the ministry's new safety standards are to restrict the slaughter of so-called "downer cows", strengthen the ban on animal byproduct feeds, and expand BSE testing -- the measures internationally recommended to prevent the outbreak and spread of mad cow disease. A ministry official said, "Korea is a BSE-free country, as no mad cow disease has ever broken out. We've just enhanced the safety standards for Korean beef as many people called for such a measure due to renewed U.S. beef imports." Last year, Korea applied to the world organization for animal health (OIE) for a country risk assessment for BSE. As a result, Korea was rated an "undetermined risk country", the lowest of three grades. The others are "negligible" and "controlled” risk. At the time, the OIE explained Korea had not done adequate BSE testing and had not clearly defined its ban on the use of animal byproduct feeds. Woo Hee-jong, a professor of veterinary medicine at Seoul National University, said since BSE could theoretically break out in Korean cattle, “we must enhance safety standards by taking active measures including drastically increasing tests for mad cow disease." (englishnews@chosun.com )