By I have been wondering about the quality of Korean beef considering most of the cows I see in Korea are cooped up in pins and receive very little exercise:
KBS’ “News Issue Ssam” news program recently showed a sick cow being sold on the black market and heading to a slaughterhouse. According to a livestock trader in an accompanying interview, the slaughtered cow would be sold for human consumption. The program also said Korean cattle farmers imported feed that contained meat and bones until 2004, and it’s uncertain where this feed — the type believed to be the source of mad cow disease — was used. The producers said the purpose of the program was to show that there is no 100-percent assurance that Korean beef, or hanwoo, is completely safe for consumption.
The contents of this program are probably true. Everyone knows there are weaknesses in Korea’s food safety monitoring system. Korea has not registered to be classified by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on the safety of its cattle against mad cow disease, so we don’t know just how safe our beef really is. [Chosun Ilbo]
The fact that Korean beef farmers are not registered with the world wide body that monitors the safety of the beef industry is proof that US beef is safer then Korean beef. What do the Korean farmers have to hide?
9:40 pm on May 19th, 2008 1
I bet the info doesn't make a dent.
10:38 pm on May 19th, 2008 2
It has never been about mad cow or safe food. America and American things are hated in Korea.
Koreans see nothing wrong with eating filthy dogs, and will stand in a line to buy past the experation date black market US food, but at the same time, a Korean can't pass up the chance to stick it to the Americans.
11:43 pm on May 19th, 2008 3
American Cattle Farmers are paid at the most $1.30 per pound for cattle on the hoof 16-30 months old and about $1.55 per pound for younger cattle.
Korean Cattle Farmers are paid $4.50 per pound for cattle on the hoof (I don't know how old the cattle are).
If I'm the only person selling apples and I get $4.50 per apple and someone comes along and sells apples for $1.50 – I guess I would be mad too and say their apples have a variant of Japanese-B-encephalitis.
5:01 pm on May 20th, 2008 4
[...] Click here to read more. Click here to return to Korea Click here to return to MySpace News. [...]
1:19 am on May 20th, 2008 5
My wife was riding in a taxi and the driver started talking about the US beef issue. He more or less said the same things that most of us have talked about. If people don't want it, don't eat it. My wife explained her frustration that people in her workplace talked about the dangers of US beef, even while she pointed out that there was not US beef here, yet, and the Avian flu was a much closer and credible threat.
The driver smiled and said not to fret. He said he knew a lot of people that felt the same way they did, they just kept quiet because they know they are right. Only the misguided ones are loud because they want to push their lie so that their own lie seems less false.
It made her day. And when she told me, I grilled us a steak dinner with a couple of Miller Lites.
10:18 pm on May 20th, 2008 6
[...] of its cattle against mad cow disease, so we don’t know just how safe our beef really is” — Korean Beef Less Safe then American Beef.Finally, if all else fails, the classic tactic of diversion always works; the trump card of [...]
6:31 pm on May 30th, 2008 7
[...] the restaurant’s use of American beef. Because American beef is dangerous. And Korean beef is safe. So they shouldn’t use American beef. Haha, fail. There’s a prominent box on the McDonald’s Korea [...]
8:52 pm on June 4th, 2008 8
[...] agency in regards to beef safety. Since Korea does not allow inspections by the OIE, the United States beef is considered safer then Korean beef for consumers. The need for Korea to join the OIE is quite apparent considering KBS caught Korean [...]
7:03 pm on June 5th, 2008 9
[...] have been saying all this for the past week, US beef is safter then Korean beef. It is an indisputable fact that means little to these people. Notice this is the most detail [...]
5:08 pm on June 6th, 2008 10
[...] regulatory agency in regards to beef safety. Since Korea does not allow inspections by the OIE, the United States beef is considered safer then Korean beef for consumers. The need for Korea to join the OIE is quite apparent considering KBS caught Korean [...]
11:15 am on June 21st, 2008 11
[...] agendas the anti-US groups are trying to promote. I think the public is also slowly realizing that US beef is actually safer then Korean beef, but they still expect their president to at least give the appearance of not being a US lackey and [...]
5:00 am on June 26th, 2008 12
[...] ROK Drop readers also have long known that US beef is safer then domestic Korean beef since Korea refuses to meet global safety standards for beef set forth by the OIE. It is good to [...]
11:33 pm on April 25th, 2012 13
This is the most ridiculous argument I’ve read in a long time. This is proof that Korean beef is not as safe as American beef? Granted, we have our faults I’m sure (and I won’t question that we import protein-based feed, etc.), but go read Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation or watch Food, Inc. before you judge.
I can safely say American food products are the most dangerous out there, whether or not their farmers are registered, largely because these food safety regulating bodies (FDA, USDA, etc.) have been compromised a long time ago.
1:02 am on April 26th, 2012 14
Any korean that parades around with an english name, hoping to gain more respect is what is ridiculous.
How can you judge the korean industry when you do not have all the facts. korean culture dictates hiding the bad stuff. America is a far more open society and readily promotes the free exchange of ideas. korea not so much.
Do you know anything about the food supply in korea? How many times in the past decades have their been garbage found in dumplings, parasites in kimchi, left over food recycled and served in eateries, strange or hazardous materials found in popular snack foods. Yet, you believe the beef industry in korea is somehow cleaner or better than the USA? Hard to discuss the issue with someone so ignorant.
2:46 am on April 26th, 2012 15
Truth, several people now have mentioned the Bush administration suing the beef supplier that wanted to check 100% of its beef, so the idea that America is a “far more open society” falls flat on its face when it comes to the food industry. There are loads and loads of examples, including cutting testing by 90%, or forcing dairy producers who produce bovine hormone-free products to add a label saying there’s no evidence that bovine hormones in milk are a hazard to human health.
I don’t trust anything in Korea that I cannot verify myself, but to say that America’s food manufacture is “open” and operates on the “free exchange of ideas” is simply fantastical.
4:05 am on April 26th, 2012 16
@13 – I have seen those documentaries and I very rarely eat any beef that isn’t grass fed. Here is a recommendation of where to order some quality grass fed US beef. With that all said we don’t know how safe Korean beef is because they are not members of the OIE. If Korean beef is so safe why aren’t they part of the OIE? At least the US beef industry is confident enough in their product despite all their problems to be a member of the OIE.
5:17 am on April 26th, 2012 17
Korean beef does not need to be tested for BSE because BSE has never been found in Korean beef because Korean beef has never been tested because it’s never been found.
7:06 am on April 26th, 2012 18
-”Korean beef does not need to be tested for BSE because BSE has never been found in Korean beef because Korean beef has never been tested because it’s never been found.”
NONSENSE. Every Korean beef is tested for Mad Cow, and it’s safe. Also, Koreans don’t make pink stuff to fill the beef with, so that they look more meaty, like the fraudsters, the US beef industry, does.
-”If Korean beef is so safe why aren’t they part of the OIE?”
NONSENSE. Korea is a member country of the OIE. Look it up before you shoot your mouth.
http://www.oie.int/index.php?L=3&id=103
7:28 am on April 26th, 2012 19
I can’t eat anything I want to eat. I have to eat boring vegetables and tasteless beets and drink water only so I can live to 120. I wonder if any of my friends will be alive then.
4:41 pm on April 26th, 2012 20
@18 – If they are a member of the OIE then they just recently joined. They Choson Ilbo article above clearly states that South Korea was not a member of the OIE.
5:08 pm on April 26th, 2012 21
Last year a woman in South Korea died from Mad Cow Disease due to bovine material used in materials utilized in surgery. I’m not sure, therefore, if Korea “never” has had a BSE-infected cow.
Given the way that hoof-and-mouth is widely checked, I’d be surprised if BSE is not routinely checked. Got a link to the “every Korean beef tested” claim, Tom?
John in NY (#19), that is a false representation of the argument. Why do you (or we) tolerate shoddy food production practices as if the solution is to eat either nothing (or nothing interesting) or eat only unhealthful food?