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South Korea finds some U.S. beef tainted

Meat plant worker September 26, 1997
Web posted at: 11:11 p.m. EDT (0311 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said Friday that a small quantity of bacteria found by South Korean inspectors on a shipment of frozen U.S. beef is no cause for alarm. The trace amount is not enough to cause illness, USDA officials said, and is of no special concern.

Frozen meat shipped in boxed cuts often has small amounts of E. coli on the surface, according Jacque Knight of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Five weeks ago, ground beef tainted with the same bacteria sparked a major recall. But bacterium in ground beef is difficult to kill, even after cooking, because processing spreads it evenly throughout the product. So bacteria in the center of a hamburger patty, for example, might survive the heat of cooking.

But bacteria on the surface of cuts of frozen beef are almost always killed by cooking, she said.

South Korea is one of the top three importers of U.S. beef.

The USDA says there will be no need to change its inspection procedures at the Nebraska meat-processing plant that shipped the beef.

The matter is now between the supplier, IBP of Dakota City, Nebraska, and the purchaser, Korea Cold Storage, USDA officials said.

 
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