Canada seeks WTO ruling on South Korea beef

Canada said on Thursday it would seek World Trade Organization intervention to end a dispute with South Korea over Seoul's ban on Canadian beef imports.

The request for a WTO panel to rule on the case comes after WTO-brokered talks failed earlier this year.

"Recent consultations with South Korea on its Canadian beef ban regrettably did not produce the desired results," Stockwell Day, Canada's Minister of International Trade, said in a statement.

Gerry Ritz, Canada's Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, insisted that in spite of concerns about a case several years ago of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) -- also known as mad cow disease -- Canada's beef is safe.

"Canadian ranchers produce beef that meets the highest safety ad quality standards in the world," said Ritz.

"This government has made it clear to South Korea that we will defend Canadian ranchers," the minister said.

In May 2003, Seoul banned imports of Canadian beef after BSE, was discovered in a Canadian cow.

Before the ban, South Korea was Canada's fourth-largest beef export market, valued at 50 million dollars in 2002, according to government figures.

Since then Canada says it has implemented "surveillance, mitigation and eradication measures" to keep the disease at bay.

"The international scientific community recognizes that Canadian beef is safe, and we are confident a WTO dispute panel would rule in our favor," said Ritz.