SKorea rejects second batch of U.S. beef

SEOUL, Dec 1 (Reuters) South Korea rejected a second batch of US beef, recently arrived from Nebraska, after bone fragments were found in a package, the agriculture ministry said today.

The second rejection by the country, which was once the third-largest market for U.S. beef, is likely to up US/South Korean tensions ahead of another round of free trade talks.

Last week, South Korea suspended imports from a US packing plant in Kansas after finding a bone chip in the first shipment since the country lifted a three-year ban on US beef.

US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said on Tuesday Seoul had invented a reason to reject the meat, saying South Korea has applied a standard the United States had not agreed to.

South Korea said in September it would resume imports but place tough checks on products to make sure that parts it deemed as risky, such bones, were not included in the shipments.

Using X-rays, quarantine officials found three bone chips in the cargo of 3.2 tonnes of chilled beef that arrived on November. 23, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said all of the beef will be disposed of or returned to the United States and beef shipments from the plant will be suspended temporarily.

A government official identified the second plant as Premium Protein Products in Hastings, Nebraska and said beef from other approved US packers would continue.

''The bone chip found in the shipment was not a specific risk material. Beef from other approved US packers would continue,'' the official at the ministry said.

It also said if tiny bone fragments were found, exports from the plant that shipped the product would be barred, and if any specific risk materials (SRM), such as brains and spinal cord marrow, were found, all US beef imports will be suspended again.

The United States once accounted for more than two-thirds of South Korea's beef imports, or about 850 million dollar in products annually.

South Korea allows only imports of US beef from cattle less than 30 months old to guard against mad cow disease.

REUTERS SY PM1017