Following the first shipments of U.S. beef to China in 14 years, the U.S. Dairy Export Council says the United States and China have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) “on dairy trade assurances that will allow more exports from the United States.” At the same time, the consumer group Food and Water Watch said the United States should not allow China to ship poultry products to America.
China is the No. 3 market for U.S. dairy products, and the MOU “marks a significant opportunity for the U.S. dairy industry,” said the export council. The MOU spells out the process for outside entities, acting on the FDA’s behalf, to audit U.S. dairy facilities and certify that they meet Chinese food safety requirements. It’s not a question of U.S. product safety, said the council. “It was more a question of compliance with regulations between two countries with rigid regulatory systems.”
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts joined the chief executive of the Greater Omaha Packing Co. last week to load the first box of beef bound for China under protocols agreed to by the countries only days earlier. China said last fall that it would allow beef imports, but the technical-level regulations were not completed until President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resolve trade issues. The Nebraska processor said it shipped 40 boxes of steaks by air freight to Shanghai.
“We can’t let trade trump food safety,” said Food and Water Watch in opposing a USDA proposal to allow imports of poultry meat from China. It said China has a poor record of enforcing food safety rules despite the USDA’s judgment that the Chinese inspection system is as good as its U.S. counterpart.
In a Federal Register notice, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service proposed listing China “as eligible to export to the United States poultry products from birds slaughtered in the PRC [People’s Republic of China]. The PRC is currently eligible to export processed poultry products to the United States if the products are derived from poultry slaughtered in the United States or in other countries eligible to slaughter and export poultry to the United States.”