U.S./South Korea Beef Deal Concluded

U.S./South Korea Beef Deal Concluded

The much-anticipated agreement to allow U.S. beef exports back into South Korea took its final steps last night when the Korean government published the new beef import rules.  This triggered posting by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Quality System Assessment (QSA), a transitional program that will verify that systems are in place to ensure that beef products exported to Korea are from cattle younger than 30 months of age – a step taken to help improve Korean consumers’ confidence in U.S. beef.

What all this means is that the market for U.S. beef officially opened at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 26 (Seoul, Korea time).  Specific details on the status of product in the pipeline, initial dates for production of new product for Korea, etc., will be forthcoming in a separate communication from USMEF.

“The U.S. beef industry is pleased that we will again have the opportunity to provide safe and high-quality U.S. beef to Korean consumers,” said Philip Seng, president and CEO of USMEF.  “We believe this transitional program of exporting only beef from cattle younger than 30 months will improve Korean consumer confidence in U.S. beef.

“We respect the right of the Korean Government and Korean consumers to give this important issue a thorough assessment,” Seng said.   “When they were in the United States last month, the Korean auditors gave U.S. beef plants a meticulous and thorough review, and we are pleased that their examination has led to the conclusion that the Korean market should be reopened to U.S. beef.”

U.S./South Korea Beef Deal Concluded

The much-anticipated agreement to allow U.S. beef exports back into South Korea took its final steps last night when the Korean government published the new beef import rules.  This triggered posting by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Quality System Assessment (QSA), a transitional program that will verify that systems are in place to ensure that beef products exported to Korea are from cattle younger than 30 months of age – a step taken to help improve Korean consumers’ confidence in U.S. beef.

What all this means is that the market for U.S. beef officially opened at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 26 (Seoul, Korea time).  Specific details on the status of product in the pipeline, initial dates for production of new product for Korea, etc., will be forthcoming in a separate communication from USMEF.

“The U.S. beef industry is pleased that we will again have the opportunity to provide safe and high-quality U.S. beef to Korean consumers,” said Philip Seng, president and CEO of USMEF.  “We believe this transitional program of exporting only beef from cattle younger than 30 months will improve Korean consumer confidence in U.S. beef.

“We respect the right of the Korean Government and Korean consumers to give this important issue a thorough assessment,” Seng said.   “When they were in the United States last month, the Korean auditors gave U.S. beef plants a meticulous and thorough review, and we are pleased that their examination has led to the conclusion that the Korean market should be reopened to U.S. beef.”