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U.S. seeks South Korea beef talksSEOUL (AP)--The U.S. has asked for talks with South Korea after Seoul rejected all three shipments of U.S. beef since the end of a three-year ban triggered by fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, a South Korean official said Dec. 14. The U.S. is expected to call for lowering the South's quarantine standards at the talks that have yet to be scheduled, said the official with South Korea's Agriculture Ministry, requesting anonymity citing protocol. South Korea, formerly the third-largest foreign market for American beef, agreed to resume imports earlier this year on a limited basis--boneless meat only from cattle younger than 30 months old--on the grounds that some material inside bones could be dangerous to consume and the younger animals are safe from BSE. Imports resumed in October, but American beef has never reached South Korean consumers because quarantine authorities rejected all shipments that have arrived so far for containing tiny bone fragments. They ranged in length from 3 millimeters to 22 millimeters. "We think bone is bone even if it's small, but the U.S. seems to think that small ones are different from big bones like ribs," the ministry official said. "That appears be the main reason for their request for talks." South Korea barred U.S. beef imports in December 2003 after the first reported U.S. case of BSE. Scientists believe BSE spreads when farmers feed cattle recycled meat and bones from infected animals. The cattle disease is also believed to be linked to the rare but fatal variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease found in humans. Date: 12/20/06
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