Statement Of the American Meat Institute On Korea's Suspension of Beef Trade With the United States

Attribute Statement to AMI President J. Patrick Boyle

“Producing safe beef for export to Korea and other nations is a top priority for the U.S. beef industry. We are disappointed that failures allowed the shipment of beef that should not have been exported to Korea.

However, it is important to point out that this situation did not result from any plant errors. We urge the Koreans to re-list those plants for export to Korea. In fact, the products exported were produced in compliance with federal rules and inspected by federal inspectors, but they were never intended for export. Rather, the products were shipped by brokers and were eligible for export to most nations, but not Korea. They also were approved as wholesome for sale within the United States.

The meat industry believes we have earned Korea’s trust. We hope that this isolated incident and the actions already taken by USDA to prevent it from happening again should be satisfactory to the Korean government.

We look forward to resolving this matter quickly and to engaging in free and open beef trade with Korea.”

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