Des Moines Register
12-08-06
Des Moines meat processor calls rejection of beef unfair
22,500 pounds sit in cold storage after South Korea says it found bone fragments
By PHILIP BRASHER
REGISTER WASHINGTON BUREAU
Washington, D.C.
— A Des Moines meat processor accused the South Koreans of acting unfairly in blocking a shipment of beef from the company.
Iowa Pacific Processors Inc. has found itself caught in a dispute between the
United States and South Korean governments over trade. South Korea was once the third-largest market for U.S. beef.
South Korean government officials reported finding bone fragments in the beef, but the material was actually connective tissue that was not prohibited by South
Korea's import rules, said Michael Everett, president of Iowa Pacific.
"This is a pretty direct sign that the Korean government, even though they opened their market to U.S. beef, has pretty much made their mind up that they really aren't going to be a fair trading partner," Everett said Thursday.
The 22,500 pounds of beef were X-rayed for bone fragments before the product was shipped and again when they reached South Korea, he said.
The periosteum tissue found by the South Koreans was less thick than a sheet of paper, Everett said. Such tissue, commonly found in many beef cuts, is the material that gets stuck in teeth when eating ribs, he said.
The National Library of Medicine defines the periosteum as "a fibrous sheath that covers bones. It contains the blood vessels and nerves that provide nourishment and sensation to the bone."
The South Korean government issued a news release on Wednesday identifying the fragments "as thin-sliced bone, including periosteum," according to a translation provided by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. The release said the material was reviewed by experts in meat science and veterinary medicine.
The Iowa Pacific product was the third shipment of American beef, all of which have been rejected, since South Korea ended a ban imposed after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease three years ago.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the South Korean actions appeared designed to block U.S. beef sales.
Everett said the material could have been removed from the beef had his company known the South Koreans would object.
"What they are looking for is bone fragments, solid bone. What they have done is changed the rules in the middle of the game," he said.
The Iowa Pacific shipment to South Korea, which is worth more than $100,000, contained boneless ribs, tenderloins, rib-eye steaks and other cuts. The meat remains in cold storage in South Korea. The shipment, which arrived last week, was handled by a second company, Lee Enterprises Inc. of Denver, Colo., that was to distribute the meat to Korean buyers.
The whims of international trade have affected Iowa Pacific before. The 45employee company specialized in supplying Japanese restaurants until Japan banned U.S. beef in 2003. In July, Japan re-approved exports from Iowa Pacific and 33 other meatpackers.
"In exports, details become very difficult sometimes," said Joe Cordray, a meat scientist at Iowa State University who advises processors on regulatory compliance . Exports have been rejected because the label was not placed properly on a box, he said.
South Korea purchased $815 million worth of U.S. beef in 2003. Half of those exports were beef ribs.
Telephone calls to the South Korean Embassy in Washington seeking comment on the trade dispute were not returned Thursday.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association asked the U.S. Agriculture
Department last week to cease approving beef exports to South Korea until the dispute is resolved.