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By JEANNE RICHARDSON
Staff Writer

South Korean-U.S. beef trade failed to reopen as expected late last week, due to Korean concerns that processing practices at seven U.S. packing plants did not meet its food safety standards.

Korea's beef market was closed in 2003, at the same time Japan closed its beef trade with the U.S. This decision came on the heels of the mad cow scare in 2003, dealing a blow to Arkansas City's Creekstone Farms facility.

"It's a setback for the whole beef industry," said Kevin Pentz, senior vice president of operations at Creekstone Farms.

In comments made Tuesday at the Arkansas City beef packing plant, Pentz also said that this could affect jobs and the growth of the company. "It's unfortunate for the livestock trade prices. " "We've done a great job of appeasing the (U.S.) government," said Pentz, and they are still refusing to allow Creekstone to ship their product to Japan. Japan has said it would allow shipments if Creekstone tested all its animals, which the government will not allow.

"We are continuing to work with the USDA and the various trade associations, such as the American Meat Institute" to get things back on track, Pentz said.

The U.S.-Korean suspension could be reopened if the meatpackers that meet South Korean standards -- including Creekstone -- could go forward with trade.

In March, Creekstone filed a lawsuit against the USDA when it refused to allow the company to voluntarily test cattle for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) at its Arkansas City facility. Creekstone has said the USDA does not have the legal authority to control their access to and the use of the "test kits" needed to perform BSE testing.

Over the past two years, the USDA has denied Creekstone's requests to conduct voluntary BSE testing. Creekstone Farms has publicly stated that it believes U.S. beef is safe. Nevertheless, Creekstone's customers, as well as other beef consumers around the world, want beef from BSE-tested cattle.

The USDA, however, opposes private testing of cattle. According to the USDA Web site, mad cow incubates for years and "is not detected in young cattle," which is what the majority of the 35 million cattle slaughtered for meat each year is.