SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's agriculture ministry said Thursday that it has strengthened inspections on U.S. beef imports after a mad cow disease case was reported in the United States.
A six-year-old cow in Florida tested positive for the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), marking the sixth mad cow case in the United States since 2003.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs increased the sampling inspection of U.S. beef from the current 3 percent of the total to 30 percent, planning to take necessary quarantine measures.
The ministry has requested the U.S. Department of Agriculture for additional information on the mad cow case.
South Korea is currently importing U.S. cattle younger than 30 months that are rid of specified risk materials (SRM).
South Koreans are sensitive to the mad cow disease, which can cause the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in 2008 to protest against U.S. beef imports on growing worry about the mad cow disease.
