Unauthorized material in U.S. beef bound to S.Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unauthorized animal parts have been found in a box of U.S. beef shipped to South Korea, just as the United States pushes for a full reopening of the Asian market for U.S. meat, the Bush administration said on Wednesday.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told reporters that South Korea had found a vertebral column in one box of U.S. beef from an animal under 30 months old.

Johanns acknowledged the column should have been removed, but said it was unclear what measures South Korea would take.

"My hope is that there isn't a ban on U.S. beef or anything like that," he said. He said only six of about 600,000 boxes of beef shipped to South Korea recently have had problems.

Yet the discovery is another blow for the U.S. meat industry, which has been anxiously awaiting a decision from Seoul to fully open a lucrative market that has been restricted for U.S. exporters since mad cow disease surfaced in the United States in 2003.

The industry had been expecting officials in Seoul to reopen the market by late September. It's unclear if the latest blunder will derail that process.

The beef issue has wide implications. Many members of Congress threaten to block a massive free trade deal with South Korea until the beef issue is settled.

U.S. meat trade with Korea is growing at a good clip. Through the third week of July, shipments and outstanding sales of beef were 22,500 metric tonnes, compared with zero last year.

A news conference was set in Seoul on Thursday on the matter.