Today's Date:   Friday January 4, 2013

1. LIVESTOCK ISSUES

Violation of COOL on beef jumps up [Korean: BYK]

http://view.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20130104000049

Summary: The number of violations detected in 2012 for mislabeling of country-of-origin in restaurants increased 25.5 percent (866 cases) over the level in 2011 (690 cases).  It is assumed that the additional cases of BSE detected in the United States, etc., may have been the cause for such high level of violations.

Brazil may take countries that suspended its beef imports to the WTO [Korean: BYK]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=100&oid=001&aid=0006021851

Summary: The Brazilian government hinted that it may sue the countries to the WTO that suspended its beef imports due to the finding of BSE.  According to a Brazilian newspaper, the Brazilian government is looking into the possibility of taking countries to the WTO that had suspended or banned the imports of its beef after the finding of the BSE case.

2. OTHER MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Assemblyman proposes bill to mandate the use of domestically grown environmentally friendly products in school lunch programs [Korean: BYK]

http://www.foodnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=43231

Summary: Assemblyman Young Chul Hwang of the Saenuri Party along with 11 other assemblymen proposed a bill that would make it mandatory to use domestically grown environmentally friendly agricultural products in school lunch programs,  The ratio of schools providing school lunch programs has jumped to 99.9 percent in 2011 from 58.4 percent in 1997.

3. MIFAFF PRESS RELEASES

►QIA and ARS/USDA under its MOU develop new Multiplex PNA chip to be used for testing meat products for E.coli O-157, salmonella, etc.