Canadian Beef Ban In South Korea Lifted

For more than 10 months, Canada has reported zero cases of mad cow disease, which led South Korea to lift its ban on beef imports from the North American country and resume quarantine inspections, reported Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday.

After banning all Canadian beef imports on Feb. 13, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed that it has once again begun inspecting meat products from cattle 30 months old and under. The ban was implemented following Canada's announcement of a cow in Alberta being infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease.

Before giving out the green light on Canadian beef imports, South Korean and Canadian inspectors conducted on-site checks and also held two consultative meetings in December to ensure clean and safe meat products. The World Organization for Animal Health has also confirmed Canada is a "controlled BSE risk country" that is allowed to export meat.

According to The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, South Korea was Canada's sixth largest market for veal and beef export to in 2014, resulting to 18.8 million U.S. dollars in sales that year.

"South Korea holds huge potential for beef and especially cuts...that are underutilized" in Canada, said Canada's Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland. "Korea is a market that will pay more for those select items and that helps to increase the overall value of the animal for producers."

In 2014, the U.S. was Canada's number one importer of beef and veal, purchasing 1.35 billion Canadian dollars' worth of products. In 2015, beef exports from Canada to the U.S. reached 1.20 billion Canadian dollars from January to September.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency pointed that the most probable cause for the mad cow disease that infected the cows was contaminated feed and confirmed that no Black Angus cow made it to animal feed systems or human food, noted CBC News on Friday.

"South Korea holds huge potential for beef and especially cuts and offals that are underutilized here at home," said president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association Dave Solverson, acknowledging the benefit for beef producers on the lifting of the ban. "Korea is a market that will pay more for those select items and that helps to increase the overall value of the animal for producers."

The association also noted that Canadian beef exports to Korea is capable of exceeding 50 million U.S. dollars annually with the 2014 implementation of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement.