Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 5/12/15


U.S. beef industry interests said they have agreed to implement a traceability system that would satisfy China’s demands for one, and thereby gain access to its beef market.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, the Meat Institute (NAMI), National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) urged a quick conclusion to negotiations with Beijing to reopen its market to U.S. beef. 

The groups outlined a voluntary traceability system to meet China’s requirement that the U.S. certify at the slaughter plant the birth premise of every animal from which beef is derived to export to that country. The system includes cattle in existing animal identification programs — such as the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) National Uniform Eartagging System and the brucellosis ear tagging system — that permit the documentation of birth premise. Information that would permit the identification of the birth premise or any animal that falls under this traceability system would be made available to APHIS in the event of an animal health incident.

“To be acceptable to the industry, participation in this system must be voluntary, recognizing that only beef from cattle that are covered by the system will be certified for export to China,” the groups wrote.

The groups also noted that the system will be auditable and will include current and future programs that could be developed and managed by private companies under verification programs like the Process Verified Program (PVPs) managed by the Agricultural Marketing System (AMS) of the USDA.

Total U.S. beef exports reached a record-high of $7.1 billion in 2014.

However, China, which has been closed to U.S. beef since 2003 upon the first discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the U.S., is the foreign market with the greatest growth potential.

“Our industry associations represent the entire beef value chain, from ranchers to feedlot operators to meat packers and export trading companies, and we believe that access to the large and growing Chinese beef market is essential to the future health of the U.S. beef industry,” the groups wrote.

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