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Scheduling conflict postpones U.S./China chicken meeting
Story Date: 8/20/2013
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Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 8/19/13
A trip by two senior USDA food safety officials to Beijing for bilateral talks on opening the U.S. market to Chinese processed chicken was supposed to take place this week, but has been postponed due to a scheduling conflict.
A USDA spokeswoman told Meatingplace a new date has yet to be agreed for Al Almanza, administrator of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and Dan Englejohn, FSIS’ deputy assistant administrator, to travel to China.
Though the initial subject of talks was to be the import of chickens that were grown in the United States and processed in China, the talks could also cover the eventual U.S. import of poultry raised in China, according to the National Chicken Council’s weekly Washington Report.
USDA officials inspected some Chinese poultry plants in March and sent a reportedly favorable review to China, which could pave the way for a handful of Chinese plants to be certified to process U.S. chicken, according to the NCC and Politico.
“The relationship, if it is mutual, could allow the Chinese to look at our exports more favorably instead of stymieing them,” Bill Roenigk, National Chicken Council consultant and former NCC senior vice president, told Politico in an interview. “It would be a breakthrough for other U.S. agriculture products that would like to come to China as well.”
China has been seeking access to the U.S. market for its processed chicken products since 2006. In 2010, China imposed tariffs on U.S. chicken exports to China. In July, the World Trade Organization ruled those tariffs unjustified.
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
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