Officials say the first shipment of U.S. beef under a controversial import deal has arrived in South Korea.

But public concerns about mad cow disease linger.

South Korean authorities and meat importer Nerp Corporation say the 1.5 ton shipment was sent to a storage facility near Seoul for quarantine inspections, which could take up to two weeks.

The shipment is the first after Seoul and Washington agreed in April to lift the import ban. The deal was later revised due to large South Korean street protests.

The shipment also marks the first authorized import of the U.S. beef including bones in nearly five years. South Korea banned U.S. beef after the first case of mad cow disease in the U.S. was discovered in late 2003.