Hygiene and labeling, the main challenges for US red meat exports to Colombia
Colombia has rapidly developed into a major destination for US pork and beef but access in the market can be blocked for exporters that are ignoring the hygiene and labeling requirements. "We don’t run into many documentation issues in Colombia, but dirty containers and labeling are a very big focus for the food safety inspection service in that country", warned Cheyenne McEndaffer, USMEF director of technical services/access during an educational seminar.
"There is also growing interest in chilled products in Colombia, so we covered many of the challenges of getting chilled meat through the customs process in a timely manner and offered suggestions that will help exporters reduce the risk of detained or rejected shipments," she added.
US meat exports to South America have increased in the last two years with destinations such as Brazil and Argentina reopening the market for American beef and pork. Nevertheless, USMEF considers that these markets have been slow to develop, partially due to technical requirements. "The US has had beef access to Brazil for two to three years now, but we still have a limited number of eligible suppliers. We’ve had pork access to Argentina for a year and beef access there for four to five months, but the U.S. has yet to make any commercial shipments to Argentina. So we know there are commercial challenges, such as registering products and product labels, but we wanted to show our member companies that there are opportunities in these markets and that we can help make this process easier for them", pointed out McEndaffer.
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