At It Again

<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0419657220070605?pageNumber=1">South Korea is at it again</a>. <br />n<br />n<blockquote><acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym> spokesman Keith Williams said that while Seoul hasn't officially issued a ban on all U.S. beef shipments, the incident negatively impacted exports in the short term.<br />n<br />n"The mere fact is if you tried to get beef in there right now, it probably wouldn't get in," said Williams.</blockquote><br />n<br />nDon't you just love it, there is no <u>official</u> ban of US beef but you can't ship any in. Perfect example of what I call South Korea's offical/unofficial beef ban. They are going to block all imports of US beef into their country because someone shipped in the wrong thing and it had bones in it. This stuff did not come in straight from the meat packers, who are usually to blame for this kind of thing, but from a company that put the shipment together. Why punish the whole US beef industry for the mistake of one company?<br />n<br />nOf course, this doesn't take into account the recent ruling by OIE that US beef is safe even if it has bone in it and shouldn't be banned. This is really going to put a crimp in the US/South Korea FTA. Sen. Max Baucus is really playing tough on this one since his committee oversees the FTA.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>"All American beef is safe — whether it has bones or does not. The time is long past for Korea to follow international standards," Baucus said in a statement. "My patience is running out."</blockquote><br />n<br />nIt will be interesting to see how important the FTA agreement is to South Korea. As long as they ban US beef I don't see it happening.<br />n<br />n<strong>As you make your bed, so you must lie in it. Daniel J. Boorstin</strong>