According to a report from South Korea's Yonhap News, the country will decide this month on whether or not to include bone-in beef in its U.S. beef imports.
The report cites an anonymous Agriculture Ministry official who says a livestock quarantine consultation committee will meet this week to review information from inspections of U.S. beef plants before making a formal recommendation. Although the panel's decision would not be binding, the government can not set import guidelines without its input.
The official told Yonhap that Korean producers are expected to raise opposition to importing U.S. bone-in beef, which could cause delays in the recommendation process.
One restriction that is less likely to be dropped soon is South Korea's age limit on U.S. beef. The current limit for a cattle's age at slaughter is 30 months old, but the U.S. wants Seoul to lower that number to 20 months.
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