S. Korea finds excessive antimicrobial agents in Spanish pork, restricts imports

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea halted imports from a Spanish meat
exporter after finding excessive levels of antimicrobia agents in frozen pork,
the government said Thursday.

The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said more than
permitted levels of Enrofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin were found in a 23-ton
shipment of pork that was brought into the country on Feb. 9.
Tests showed that the pork from the meat exporter identified as 10.06579G had 0.7
parts per million (ppm) of the agents in the pork it shipped. This is higher than
the max limit of 0.1 ppm set by Seoul.
The particular shipment has been rejected with meat to be sent back or destroyed.
Antimicrobia or synthetic antibiotics are a drug that either kills or prevents
growth of microbes, bacteria, fungi and viruses. Most government permit their use
as long as residual levels are within set limits.
Enrofloxacin is commonly used to treat livestock but excessive use can lead to
blindness and serious seizures in animals. Ciprofloxacin is also widely used to
treat bacterial infections, although it has been cited for causing damage to the
digestive system and tendon ruptures in people.
The NVRQS said shipments from the meat exporter that were put on ships before the
ban went into effect on Wednesday and those already in the country will be
checked more thoroughly.
Madrid has been notified of the excessive levels of antimicrobia materials.
The meat packer detected had shipped 3,287 tons of pork to South Korea in 2008
that all passed inspections.
Spain was the ninth largest exporter of pork to South Korea as of 2008 with the
total reaching 25,224 tons.
Last year the country imported a total of 210,000 tons of foreign pork, with the
United States accounting for a third, followed by Canada, Chile, France, Austria,
Belgium, Netherlands and Hungary.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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