SEOUL, July 15 (Reuters) - A South Korean importer said on Tuesday it would bring in U.S. beef with bones this week, which will mark the first import in nearly five years of the American product under a new import regulation. The response to the initial import is likely to determine how quickly U.S. beef with bones can re-establish itself in the Korean market, once the third-largest overseas market for U.S. beef products, traders said. Beef importer Nerp said it would bring in 2.5 tonnes of the American meat including a popular local dish called L.A. galbi-- an inexpensive cut of U.S. beef attached to ribs -- from Kansas-based meatpacking firm Creekstone Farms. "We are planning to import a small amount this week by air freight to test consumer demand," an official at the firm said. South Korea resumed quarantine checks on U.S. beef in late June after reworking a beef import deal first struck in April, which sparked mass street protests, caused support rate of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to plummet and led to a crisis for his four-month-old government. Tens of thousands of Koreans took to the streets for weeks starting in May, demanding U.S. beef stay out of the country because they fear it still poses a mad cow disease risk, although protests have died out this month. South Korea imposed a blanket ban on the American meat in late 2003 following the first outbreak of mad cow disease there. Before the ban, the Asian country imported around $850 million worth of U.S. beef a year. President Lee struck the beef deal to help a sweeping, bilateral free trade pact with the United States which studies said could lift the $78 billion in annual two-way trade by $20 billion. Before the ban went into effect, one of the most popular items at Korean barbecue restaurants across the country was L.A. galbi. L.A. galbi, with L.A. standing for Los Angeles and galbi being Korean for a cut of beef on the rib, made up a hefty portion of the nearly 200,000 tonnes beef imported into South Korea in 2003 before the beef ban. Industry experts are not sure how much market share L.A. galbi will regain in South Korea, given the depth of anger over the beef deal. Analysts and importers expect safety fears to diminish over the next few months with the beef gradually making its way back onto the shelves at major supermarket chains. (Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
Mark Spigelman (R), professor of paleopathology at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, speaks as Andreas Nerlich, professor of pathology at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians University, listens during a presentation in Jerusalem July 14, 2008. A ...
