There is almost no chance of any beef from Canadian cattle with mad cow disease reaching South Korea through the United States, South Korea's Agriculture Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement came after Canada confirmed the discovery of its latest case of mad cow disease, the 13th of its kind.
The ministry said the United States lifted its import ban on Canadian cattle as of July 2005, but that all animals brought over the U.S. border are inspected by experts at designated entry points and tagged to ensure that they can be easily tracked.
"Under current import rules, Canadian cattle raised for more than 100 days in the United States can be slaughtered for export to South Korea," said Kim Chang-seob, head of the ministry's animal health division.
However, he said that because most Canadian cattle imported by U.S. ranchers are calves and not raised for very long before being slaughtered, the chances of those animals being infected with the disease is negligible.
Kim also said that South Korea has yet to lift its ban on Canadian beef that has been in place since May 2003, despite holding technical talks on the issue last November.
Source:Xinhua
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