Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ruffie]

"Canadians produce and export beef?"

http://www.fas.usda.gov/dlp2/circular/2003/03-03LP/beefoverview.html

Canada is the world's fourth largest exporter of beef, and the largest supplier of high quality fresh chilled beef to the US (Australia being the largest source of frozen beef.)

Canada's success in the export of chilled beef is due in no small part to its lucrative 13.7 million head of cattle raised entirely in igloos, a credit to the ingenuity of this ice bound nation.

[SHANE02]

The Aussie beef from Costco is pretty good if cooked quickly, But I have to say the best beef I've ever eaten was some grain fed U.S steak that I got from Shisegae many years ago here in seoul. Really thick, tender, and juicy.

God I'm hungry now.

I had some premium Korean beef a while ago with my in-laws. It was delicious but it cost a fortune.

I've got Korean steak from the Dept. Store before, but it was expensive, full of gristle, and had been cut wrong.

[KOREAN_MAN]

[superacidjax]

[gsxr750r]

The fun thing I'm sitting back and watching is how Nancy Pelosci and the Dems will go on the attack and start killing countries like Korea over this one-way protectionist crap they've gotten away with.

In fact, I hear stricter trade with China is one of her favorite topics. Korea will certainly feel the same.

Get ready, Korea. If you hated Bushie....

[superacidjax]

[superacidjax]

Korean beef IS superior. Here's a recent Korea Times article excerpt:

"Korea is the only country among the OECD member nations to be able to use antibiotics on animals without a veterinarian�s prescription. when it comes to the use of antibiotics on chickens, cattle and fish, unlimited amounts of antibiotics have been used with no restraint at all. The amounts of antibiotics being used on cattle or fish are said to be the largest in the world. A chilling fact is that some 916 grams of antibiotics are used for the production of one ton of meat on average here, about 30 times the amount used in advanced nations, according to concerned authorities.

Substantial amounts of antibiotics used on animals are passed to human beings. Apparently owing to the rampant use of antibiotics, the number of people suffering from tuberculosis (TB) or other infectious diseases is increasing lately. A startling fact is that the diseases that used to be easily controlled with standard drugs are now getting difficult to treat because the microbes causing the diseases have developed a resistance to these drugs. Treating drug-resistant diseases is far more difficult than treating normal ones."
***end of except***

So yes, Korean meat is far safer than American beef. Tuburculosis is fun for the entire family. I'm sure more people have died from TB than the three cases of Mad Cow disease. Maybe that's why Korean beef tastes so delicious.. It's all that amoxicillin in the flesh.

[slow_life]

This topic seems to have run it's course, so I want to share something rather extraordinary. As I orginally wrote here, I sent letters to my Senators and Representatives and last night, one representative actually called my home and we talked for some time about this issue. He informed me that the Senate is already preparing to take action in concert with the Beef Producers Assoc. It's a very big deal in DC and our congresspeople know very well how South Korea is trying to screw over the import agreement we have concerning beef. I was surprised to get the call......and happy to share it with all of you. Thanks for your comments on this issue.

[superacidjax]

[EFLtrainer]

[quote="KOREAN_MAN"]

[KOREAN_MAN]

Why is it so hard to believe that many Koreans, and not just the beef industry, think importing American beef is dangerous? Don't take my word for it. Just ask people around you. Whether they should be concerned or not, they ARE concerned. Just ask.

I, for one, am concerned. Why? Well, let me briefly comment on each argument some of you made.


(1) American beef is safe. Only three cases of mad cow disease!

You've got to be kidding me. Do you really believe that only three people in America died from it? The British government denied it too in the beginning. And then people started to die and it just became too obvious.

Quoting from an article:
http://media.www.dailytargum.com/media/storage/paper168/news/2004/01/20/Opinions/Mad-Ignorance.U.s.a-583026.shtml

[The human form of mad cow disease is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD is a lot like Alzheimer's, and this may be why few American deaths from Mad Cow have been detected. In 1989, Laura Manuelidis and colleagues at Yale University performed autopsies on the brains of Alzheimer's patients and found that 13 percent of the patients actually suffered from CJD.]

I do believe it's on the record that a lot of Americans have suffered from Alzheimer's. Am I wrong or is this source "too liberal" as well?


(2) Korean meat contains antibiotics and they cause tuberculosis.

I think you were referring to this article:
http://search.hankooki.com/times/times_view.php?term=antibiotics++&path=hankooki3/times/lpage/opinion/200609/kt2006092917074054050.htm&media=kt

I guess there's some truth in that. But according to the article, "(t)he situation is especially serious in the case of fishery farms." Also, it doesn't help that people in South Korea take too many pills without a prescription because "they know what they're doing." But what did I say before? Eating meat at all is dangerous! But, at least, you don't have to worry about CJD or mad cow disease from Korean beef.


(3) Korea won't import USA cattle.

No, we will. It's just that there are regulations to follow. We will import only meat, no bone, of cattle which are not more than 30 months old. (The Japanese only import cattle that are less than 20 months old, so they are being more strict about it. A bunch of idiots, right?)

But they found 11 bones. Yes, they were tiny. But you test a little, you find 11 of them, and what are you supposed to do? Assume that you won't find any more in the rest of the package?

Hey, if it's against the American regulation to ship flawed Korean automobiles into the U.S., then so be it. I don't want anybody to die from those cars.


(4) Why is American beef unsafe?

Unlike Japan or South Korea, they only test about 1% of cattle and they will reduce the rate to 0.1% in the future.

They also feed cattle meat to bring the beef price down. In South Korea, every part of cattle is used for cooking. In the United States, many parts of cattle have no commercial value, so they are "recycled" in feeding live cattle.

When Koreans tested already-imported beef from the United States, the level of dioxin was excessive. The permitted level is 5 pg/g, which Korean beef has never crossed. But the American beef was at 6.26 pg/g.


(5) But if it's so unsafe, don't eat it. Let it rot.

Sure, people won't buy it from the supermarket. But like I said before, restaurants and school cafeteria will go for the cheaper American beef and there is no way of knowing about it.


(6) You said that you are for free trade, yet you are for beef restrictions. That's contridictory.

Having restrictions means no free trade? They are not the same thing as tariffs. Let's say it's illegal to sell guns in Korea, which I think it is. Should they import guns if there's free trade? No, of course not.

All FTA does is to allow tariffs on all goods that were not mentioned in the deal. THIS is not free trade, and that's why FTA is contradictory of being a "free trade" agreeement.


Not many people around the world have died from mad cow disease so far, at least comparatively speaking. But I predict it's going to be more of a problem in the future just like AIDS is. The only way to prevent it is to not import meat from anywhere for every single country, not just South Korea. I guess it's like having one sexual partner in your whole life to prevent AIDS. The difference is that the former is a lot easier than the latter.

[superacidjax]

[bixlerscott]

I believe that the Koreans have a notion that American beef is low quality and not desired so Australian beef is sold here. I know the stuff is way way over priced along with many other products. Perhaps American beef does have hormones in it that make people big and fat from eating it. Who knows. This is my educated guess.

[BigBuds]