At a recent U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) seminar on U.S. bacon and coo...

At a recent U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) seminar on U.S. bacon and cooked ham, Moscow chefs learned the high quality and value of U.S. pork products compared to competing products and a Russian trader ordered a container of U.S. pork immediately afterwards.

Kirill Martynenko, executive director of the Moscow Chefs Association, showed 30 chefs from Moscow restaurants new U.S. pork cuts and how U.S. bacon and cooked ham could be incorporated in their menus.

“Seminars like this one present new U.S. pork products to chefs and help USMEF learn what chefs need for dishes that appeal to Russian consumers,” said Alla Dubrovina, manager of the USMEF office in Moscow. “The seminar also is an opportunity for USMEF to make new contacts and to keep informed about competing products.”

Chef Martynenko talked about the quality, consistency and nutritional benefits of U.S. pork. Most Russian chefs are unaware of the standards the United States employs to ensure the highest-quality products are produced.

The National Pork Board introduced a pork quality assurance program 16 years ago for U.S. producers to follow. The program emphasizes good management practices and sets animal health standards for consistency and safety.

Chef Martynenko cooked U.S. bacon and ham dishes to show the chefs how they could cook successfully with U.S. pork. This allowed the chefs to evaluate the taste and quality of U.S. pork and compare it to competing local products, especially Hungarian pork, which is widely used in Moscow hotels and restaurants.

The event was such a huge success in convincing the chefs that U.S. pork is of high quality and value that many said they would prompt their suppliers to buy the U.S. pork products introduced in the seminar. Additionally, an importer who attended the seminar placed an order for a container of U.S. pork shortly after.

Russia uses tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) to regulate pork imports from the United States, the European Union and Paraguay in addition to a general quota for all other countries. The pork quota for the United States this year is 53,800 metric tons (mt).

Russia’s TRQ system has spurred several changes in the pork market, such as an overall increase in prices and an increase in processed pork imports since the TRQ does not apply to those products. U.S. bacon and cured ham fit into the processed pork category, so those items would not be included in the quota.

Pork prices in Russia increased 85 percent from 2003 to 2004, and high prices have continued into 2005. Exports of U.S. pork and pork variety meat to Russia in the first six months of this year have increased 153 percent in volume to 21,322 mt over the same period last year while value increased 210 percent to $36.7 million.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –

The following photos are available with this release.

Photo 1– Chefs sample U.S. pork products including ham and bacon at the USMEF seminar in Moscow. The seminar introduced U.S. pork products to 30 chefs, who were able to sample U.S. pork prepared in a variety of dishes.

Photo 2– Chefs discuss different ways U.S. pork could be utilized at their restaurants after the USMEF seminar in Moscow. An importer placed an order for a container of U.S. pork after the event.

Photo 3 – U.S. bacon was one of the pork products cooked and served at the USMEF seminar for chefs in Moscow. Most chefs said they would use U.S. bacon in their breakfast menus, although the taste was more salty than Russians typically prefer.