South Korea will follow OIE risk standards for beef, may allow bone-in beef in 2007

South Korea will follow OIE risk standards for beef, may allow bone-in beef in 2007, Pete Hisey, Meatingplace.com (22.nov.06)

South Korea promised to reconsider its restrictions on U.S. beef if the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) formalizes a change in risk standards when it meets in May 2007. Last May, the organization said it was considering changing the methods for determining the safety of beef in view of the spread of bovine spongiform encepthalopathy from those based on prevalence of the disease in a market and the age of animals meant for export to an overall risk assessment of each market.

That assessment would be made on variables such as strength and longevity of a ruminant-to-ruminant feed ban, slaughter and processing procedures, surveillance testing plans and the like. If the OIE were to decide to switch to such a standard, South Korea said it would be willing to reconsider its import standards, the Korea Herald reported. That would presumably mean an end to a 30-month rule on age and a ban on bones, since most bones are not considered to be specified risk materials. The latter is a key consideration for the United States, since two-thirds of shipments to South Korea prior to the BSE crisis were bone-in beef ribs, used in barbecue rib dishes, which are a national favorite.