United States beef exports to East Asia in 2022 broke the record reached last year, both in volume and value, according to a report by the US’s Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Only four years ago 100.000 South Koreans lined the streets of Seoul to protest the return of US beef to Korea. Consumer confidence in US beef was at an all-time low to the extent that media outlets would not even accept paid ads promoting the products for fear of getting pulled into the protest backlash – instead joining the outrage by declaring US beef to be unsafe from BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) or ‘mad cow’.