Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 5/6/14
 

The Mexican government has decided to expand access of U.S. beef imports, U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Joe Schuele confirmed for Meatingplace today.

“Yesterday was a holiday in Mexico so we are checking to see if the changes have been officially posted, but the decision has been made,” he said in an email. “We expect the final paperwork to come together in the next few days so that FSIS can update the Export Library. Shipments can’t begin until the library is updated.”
Mexico said it will allow all beef and beef products from animals of any age slaughter in the United States slaughtered after May 28, 2013, which is when the World Organization for Animal Health deemed the U.S. a “negligible risk” for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said.
“This 10-year effort supports normalizing trade in beef and beef by-products between the United States and Mexico with only a few products remaining ineligible,” FAS said on its website.

Mexico incrementally has eased access to U.S. beef and by-products since March 3, 2004, when it allowed product from animals under 30 months of age following the Dec. 24, 2003, ban on most U.S. beef products.
On April 30, 2014, Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishery and Food (SAGARPA), National Service of Health, Food Safety, and Food Quality (SENASICA) posted revised requirements for the importation of beef and beef products from the United States into Mexico. 

Shipments, once activated, will require a new Letterhead Certificate, but the older version will be acceptable until June 27.

The new Mexican requirements eliminate the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Export Verification program for some 170 U.S. establishments that were enrolled in its special program for shipping beef and beef by-products to Mexico.

As of April 24, Mexico listed 1,105 U.S. companies as eligible to export beef and beef products to Mexico.
According to Mexican data, the U.S. exported 224,847 metric tons of beef and beef products to Mexico in 2013 at a value of just more than U.S. $1 billion.

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