[그땐 그랬지]The mad cow disease controversy is an old saying… ‘Popular Explosion’ American Beef

[이데일리 김무연 기자] “Eating American beef makes holes in your brain.”

In 2008, Gwanghwamun Square was covered with candles. This is because the conditions for importing US beef, which were being discussed while promoting the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), were known and the risk of mad cow disease was raised. ‘Bovine spongiform encephalopathy’, called mad cow disease, is a disease that dies after suffering a degenerative disorder like dementia due to the formation of a sponge-like hole in the spongy tissue in the brain. It occurs in cattle, but it can also occur in humans who have consumed beef.

The cause of mad cow disease is the accumulation of’prion’. Prion, a protein-only infectious disease, was known in the 1960s as a pathogen causing the disease’scrappy’, accompanied by itching and paralysis in sheep and goats. Before 2000, cows were fed meat and bone meal feed made from bones, heads, tails, etc., which are poorly marketable. This explains that prion accumulation occurred while making feed made from ground cows with scrapie symptoms.

Candlelight protesters against US beef import conditions (Photo = E-Daily DB)

The problem was when the Lee Myung-bak administration in 2008 decided to import beef that was’more than 30 months, including bones and intestines, and less than 30 months, including most certain dangerous areas’ during a beef import negotiation process with the United States. It is known that 99.9% of cattle with mad cow disease are more than 30 months old, leading to large-scale anti-government protests. Eventually, the government changed its policy to import only beef less than 30 months old.

It is said that the fear of mad cow disease was excessively highlighted at the time. The number of cows with mad cow disease in the United States is a small fraction, and all four people who died of’variant CJD’ (Kreutzfeldt-Jakob disease), a human mad cow disease in the United States until 2014, were infected while traveling abroad. There is little evidence to raise the risk of mad cow disease as a reason for opposing US beef imports.

American beef, which was evaded for fear of mad cow disease, has become a major food ingredient in the Korean national table. According to data from the Korea Customs Service, the total amount of beef imports last year was 44,3245 ​​tons (according to customs clearance), which decreased slightly compared to the previous year, but US beef imports increased 3.2% to 24,3197 tons. The share of US beef in the imported meat market was 54.9%, accounting for more than half.

It is an analysis that the popularity of American beef was influenced by the improvement in awareness of American beef. In the’Beef Consumer Perception Survey’ conducted by the American Meat Exporters Association with Gallup Korea in the second half of last year, 62.9% of respondents said that American beef is safe. It is the first time since the resumption of US beef imports that the safety has exceeded the 60% level. Intake intention and reliability also recorded 61.1% and 64.5%, respectively.

In October of last year, models at E-Mart’s Yongsan branch introduced a promotion of 8 American steaks hosted by the American Meat Export Association (Photo = American Meat Exporters Association).

The increase in the number of Homecooks who enjoy cooking at home due to Corona 19 is also the reason for the increase in demand for US beef. It is explained that more people make steaks at home as they easily learn how to grill steaks on YouTube, and more consumers are looking for American beef that is cheaper than Korean beef.

An official from the American Meat Export Association said, “The promotion of’Pick 8 American Steak Bags’, held for a limited time at all E-Mart stores, was successful.” “Tomahawk and T-Bone planned for year-end home parties in large marts and online channels. Steak sales events and live broadcasts were very popular with consumers.”