BSE South Korea strengthens inspection on US beef

A six-year-old cow in Florida tested positive for the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), marking the sixth mad cow case in the United States since 2003.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs increased the sampling inspection of U.S. beef from the current 3% of the total to 30%, planning to take necessary quarantine measures. South Korea is currently importing US cattle younger than 30 months that are rid of specified risk materials (SRM).
The ministry has requested the US Department of Agriculture for additional information on the mad cow case. South Koreans are sensitive to the mad cow disease, which can cause the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in 2008 to protest against US beef imports on growing worry about the mad cow disease.