Dialogue On Food Safety Benefits Both U.S. And Chinese Meat Industries

After decades of political and economic isolation, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002 and is rapidly embracing free market trade and preparing to expand its worldwide meat exports. One reflection of this international focus is China's modernization of its food safety regulations and enforcement. To help China establish science-based food safety standards, a U.S. delegation of food safety and animal health experts from the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), Texas A&M University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently met with Chinese government and meat industry representatives in Beijing.

Paul Clayton, USMEF vice president export services, and Dr. Jeff Savell, professor of meat science at Texas A&M, recently participated in several presentations to the Chinese Meat Association (CMA), the Ministry of Health, and the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) about U.S. meat industry initiatives to manage food safety. The resulting discussions, which included representatives of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service in Beijing, enlightened both sides about the status of food safety in the Chinese meat industry and the value of U.S. scientific guidance as the Chinese refine their regulatory standards.

In their presentations to AQSIQ, Savell and Clayton fielded questions for several hours about food safety control and management, fraud prevention, animal diseases and product testing. As a result of the fraud management presentation, a detailed discussion developed regarding U.S. compliance investigation and enforcement procedures. According to Clayton, AQSIQ wanted to understand the depth of enforcement in the U.S.

"We stressed that federal laws are strictly enforced in the U.S. with a low tolerance for violation," said Clayton, who noted that Ministry of Health officials also were interested in U.S. regulatory enforcement and especially the interagency cooperation by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Although Ministry of Health officials were familiar with food safety risk assessment concepts, Clayton said he encouraged them to accurately evaluate epidemiological food safety risks inherent to the Chinese population and base safety management efforts on their own unique risk analysis. As an example, he noted that with the high consumption of ground beef in the U.S. and despite extensive HACCP procedures to eliminate E. coli 0157:H7 at the plant level which have lowered the U.S. incidence to less than 0.9 percent, the U.S. meat industry still places warning labels on ground beef packaging to educate consumers about their role in food safety, including proper cooking techniques. The same strategy, he suggested, might be applied in China to raw fish. While a mainstay in the Chinese diet, Chinese fish packaging does not convey warnings about foodborne pathogens or suggested safety procedures.

To further this bilateral learning experience and open market opportunities for U.S. trade, USDA technical teams from FSIS and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will follow up with China's Ministry of Health and AQSIQ to attempt to ensure scientific standards become the norm.

China Meat Association Welcomes U.S.Speakers

The China Meat Association (CMA) Second Annual Congress provided an important opportunity for several U.S. meat industry representatives to communicate with Chinese industry leaders. International Meat Secretariat (IMS) President Philip Seng addressed the opening session of the CMA Congress and presented awards to the top 10 meat entrepreneurs. Seng, who is also USMEF President and CEO, commended China for working diligently to become a full member of the WTO and for its extraordinary efforts to modernize its food safety, ingredient and processing regulations. Seng also said China's meat industry faces challenges as it attempts to internationalize, including animal disease and food safety issues. The full text of Seng's speech is available online at www.usmef.org.

Savell later presented information on U.S. meat industry initiatives to manage food safety to more than 70 CMA members. From the subsequent question-and-answer session about how HACCP standards are regulated and enforced by USDA-FSIS, Clayton concluded the Chinese industry leaders were concerned the Chinese government will set strict standards on antibiotic and chemical residues. U.S. input on these issues may help ensure that sound, scientifically-based standards are implemented.

At the CMA trade show, the desire to appeal to discerning international consumers was apparent; several Chinese meat companies promoted "Story Meat" marketing campaigns, which stress the importance of clean animal production, traceability and safe food processing. Clayton noted many companies featured their "Green Food" (similar to "all-natural" claims in the U.S.), HACCP and ISO 9000 certifications to reassure international consumers of product quality.

ChinaPrepares To Increase Exports

The results of Chinese meat industry modernization efforts were obvious when the U.S. team toured a new pork processing facility in southern Beijing: it was automated with mostly German technology, utilizing a central control room to monitor operations through video cameras and computer input. According to Clayton, the company currently sells pork primarily to local markets but is very interested in expanding its exports. Food safety management was the main focus at this facility, and plant personnel conduct food safety tests at an onsite laboratory.

Clayton noted that China's meat industry accounts for over half of world pork production and consumption, and despite relatively low per-capita beef consumption, China is already the fourth largest beef producer in the world. Meat consumption in China is expanding faster than in any other significant market, and an estimated 65 percent of the growth in global pork consumption over the past six years was due to increased demand by Chinese consumers. Despite increasing competition from the Chinese, Clayton says good opportunities exist for U.S. meat exports to China.

According to the most recent USDA statistics, U.S. beef (including variety meat) exports to China and Hong Kong for the first seven months of 2003 were 14 percent lower in volume (18,481 metric tons) and 12 percent lower in value compared to Jan.-July 2002, which was a record high year for U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports to China/Hong Kong. Nevertheless, China/Hong Kong remains the fifth largest U.S. beef (including variety meat) export market in 2003 by value at $47.44 million, despite the negative impact of the SARS epidemic earlier this year. U.S. beef variety meat exports to China/Hong Kong for Jan.-July 2003 increased 26 percent in volume (11,260 mt) and 12 percent in value ($20.5 million) compared to the first seven months last year.

China/Hong Kong is the fourth largest U.S. pork (including variety meat) export market in volume. U.S. pork (including variety meat) exports to China/Hong Kong for Jan.-July 2003 increased 4 percent in volume (29,278 mt) compared to the first seven months of 2002. U.S. pork exports to China/Hong Kong for Jan.-July 2003 increased 66 percent in volume (14,325 mt) and 9 percent in value ($13.0 million) compared to Jan.-July 2002, while variety meat exports declined.

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.

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Click on the links below for images from Chinese meat industry marketing brochures:

Photo 1: Chinese marketing materials display clean production facilities and high-tech surveillance equipment.

Photo 2: An example of a Chinese "Story Meat" marketing campaign, which stresses the importance of clean animal production, traceability and safe food processing, and is featured prominently at trade show kiosks.