KEY POINTS:
New Zealand beef exports to South Korea have been put at risk by two scandals, one an apparent repetition of a 2005 debacle that cost the lucrative trade millions.
Traces of endosulfan, a controversial insecticide widely used in horticulture, have been reported in a 26kg carton of meat from a Waikato processor.
South Korea is NZ's second biggest market for meat, and last year took about 50,000 tonnes valued at $240 million.
The contaminated meat has been found in circumstances apparently similar to the September 2005 case when endosulfan residues were found in beef exported from NZ after Waimauku farmer Carl Houghton used the plant pesticide as a non-approved spray on cattle. He was fined $15,000.
In that incident, the suspension of New Zealand beef exports cost the industry about $30 million. New Zealand's total trade with Korea was worth $2.7 billion in the year to June 30, 2007.
Green Party health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley said yesterday that it was "particularly concerning" that more endosulfan residues had been found in South Korea.
Industry observers said the timing of the latest contamination could not have been worse, as consumer concerns in the market are already riding high in the wake of the discovery that New Zealand and Australian beef was being relabelled and sold as South Korean.
About 40 beef sellers in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province sold a total of 26,776kg of imported beef as South Korean from the start of this year until June 18.
Korean consumers were already up in arms over continuing fears that US beef is at risk from mad cow disease.
South Koreans opposing an April 18 Seoul-Washington US beef import agreement have protested extensively over what they call the government's "deceptive" additional deal to ban imports of meat from cattle older than 30 months.
It was in this market that Meat and Wool New Zealand has been trying to build a strategic position by rolling out beef sales from hotels, restaurants and other "institutions", to supermarkets and other retailers.
New Zealand has also just launched a new brand to market grass-fed beef as "nature-bred".
Exporters and regulators in this country have not given much detail on the implications of the latest find of endosulfan.
"They discovered it and we are now investigating it," Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton said. "It is not in quantities that are health-threatening for human consumption. Nevertheless, it's a concern and the Food Safety Authority is investigating it."
The authority's programme manager for market access, Neil McLeod, said that, while the situation was serious, it was too early to determine the scale of the problem.
"We are treating it seriously and getting on with it pretty damn quickly," he said.
The Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) has just issued a preliminary decision to allow continued use of endosulfan on plants, with public submissions on the preliminary decision closing on August 8.
The insecticide, widely used on vegetables, berry fruit and citrus, is banned in more than 50 countries. The accepted international level for meat fat is 0.1 parts per million.
Ms Kedgley, a critic of the Erma decision, said it was risking the nation's meat and dairy exports by continuing to allow the use of an insecticide she said was linked to breast cancer.
- NZPA
