China | China Suspends More Pork and Poultry Plants | China suspended the e...
China
China Suspends More Pork and Poultry Plants
China suspended the export eligibility of four more U.S. pork plants on January 20, following detections of "quality problems" with products clearing ports in Shandong, Shenzhen and Shanghai. The quality problems identified included detections of non-allowed residues and pathogens. The four plants now join a list of six other pork and poultry plants, which were suspended for similar quality problems in early December. A total of seven FSIS approved establishments, including some of the larger pork producing facilities in the U.S., are now ineligible to export to China following the recent rounds of suspensions. The Chinese quarantine authority (AQSIQ) is asking the plants and USDA to take "corrective actions" before considering lifting the suspensions.
While it is understood that USDA's FSIS is preparing a response to AQSIQ on the suspensions, a larger debate is developing regarding China's zero tolerance policy for the presence of common pathogens on raw meat and poultry. USDA scientists, citing prevailing science, claim that a zero tolerance standard for common pathogens on raw products is unscientific and almost impossible for even the most modern of facilities to achieve. There is also growing interest in how Chinese establishments meet the standard, and how their products are tested. These questions may be raised in World Trade Organization SPS discussions scheduled in Geneva between the United States and Chinese officials next week.
USMEF is working with USDA-Beijing and USDA-Washington to expedite a response to Chinese authorities on the suspensions, and is advising those companies who have suspended plants on individual courses of action they may take to move the issue forward.
China
China Suspends More Pork and Poultry Plants
China suspended the export eligibility of four more U.S. pork plants on January 20, following detections of "quality problems" with products clearing ports in Shandong, Shenzhen and Shanghai. The quality problems identified included detections of non-allowed residues and pathogens. The four plants now join a list of six other pork and poultry plants, which were suspended for similar quality problems in early December. A total of seven FSIS approved establishments, including some of the larger pork producing facilities in the U.S., are now ineligible to export to China following the recent rounds of suspensions. The Chinese quarantine authority (AQSIQ) is asking the plants and USDA to take "corrective actions" before considering lifting the suspensions.
While it is understood that USDA's FSIS is preparing a response to AQSIQ on the suspensions, a larger debate is developing regarding China's zero tolerance policy for the presence of common pathogens on raw meat and poultry. USDA scientists, citing prevailing science, claim that a zero tolerance standard for common pathogens on raw products is unscientific and almost impossible for even the most modern of facilities to achieve. There is also growing interest in how Chinese establishments meet the standard, and how their products are tested. These questions may be raised in World Trade Organization SPS discussions scheduled in Geneva between the United States and Chinese officials next week.
USMEF is working with USDA-Beijing and USDA-Washington to expedite a response to Chinese authorities on the suspensions, and is advising those companies who have suspended plants on individual courses of action they may take to move the issue forward.