Every college graduate worries about finding a job, especially without having...

Every college graduate worries about finding a job, especially without having “real world” experience. The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) is helping alleviate those worries by providing graduate students an opportunity to work in the international marketplace.

Each year USMEF provides two meat science graduate students the chance to work internationally, gaining experience through exposure to opportunities and challenges the U.S. meat industry faces when marketing product abroad.

Meat science graduate students Courtney Heller of Colorado State University and Kevin Brueggemeier of Ohio State University participated in this year’s USMEF internship program, designed to help prepare and educate future meat scientists on how economic, technical, policy and cultural conditions in international markets affect the U.S. meat industry’s ability to export.

The interns gathered information from Asia and Central and South America regarding allowed meat product additives, allowable levels of additives and maximum residue limits for substances such as antibiotics and pesticides that are commonly used in the U.S. meat industry.

Substances such as antibiotics and pesticides that are commonly used in the U.S. meat industry have to meet controlled dosage standards, called maximum residue limits, when exported. Exceeding those limits can result in violations, rejection of goods and a negative impact on trade negotiations.

The interns compiled their data for U.S. producers, processors and exporters to ensure products do not exceed maximum residue limits when exporting to international markets.

Heller, who graduates this month, spent two months in Asia based out of the USMEF office in Tokyo where she met with government and industry officials to collect data she then added to data compiled from USMEF.

“My objective was to provide processors, producers and marketers with an exporting tool that outlines veterinary drugs and agricultural chemicals along with the maximum residue export requirements for Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan in a user-friendly, easily-accessible format,” Heller said.

She also had the opportunity to tour markets in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan to better understand the market conditions that impact U.S. pork and beef exports in addition to participating in a seminar on the safety and export verification procedures for U.S. beef.

“The seminar was an effective way for USMEF to present information on U.S. beef safety and the export verification program to Japanese meat industry members and media to promote further understanding of key issues among consumers,” Heller said.

Brueggemeier, studying pork quality and genetics at Ohio State University and set to graduate next year, spent two months based in the USMEF office in Mexico City, where he gathered information from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Mexico on maximum residue limits of antibiotics and pesticides.

“It is extremely beneficial to know maximum residue limits, not only are many compounds listed, but also accepted tolerance levels change from country to country,” Brueggemeir said. “This information makes it easier for exporters to view all the requirements about a country they are currently exporting to or is thinking of exporting to.”

Brueggemeir also assisted USMEF at the National Association of Federal Inspection Type Establishments Foundation (ANETIF) conference to promote meat grading in Mexico by identifying U.S. procedures that could be used in Mexico and emphasizing the positive aspects of grading such as increased consumer acceptance of product.

To gain hands-on experience, Brueggemeir participated in the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) meat tenderness research to determine shear force, chemical composition and color and texture analysis to provide products in the marketplace that best appeal to consumers.

This research shows that U.S. meat products are just as good, if not better, than Mexican meat products. The results indicated Mexican beef was more tough and dry than U.S. beef and U.S. pork is tenderer, according to the Warner Bratzler shear force, the most popular method of measuring the tenderness of meat.

“These two findings bring out great marketing advantages for both beef and pork exporters, and if they can convince the consumers they might be able to gain some ground on domestic products,” Brueggemeier said.

He researched information on the U.S. standards and regulations of meat importation, including rules, fees, inspection and sampling and compared them to Mexico’s standards to help U.S. exporters identify and understand the differences so they could easily export to Mexico.

“The internship expanded my knowledge of international meat markets, as well as the role of USMEF in promoting U.S. meat abroad,” Brueggemeir said.

This is the second year of the USMEF internship program developed in cooperation with the American Meat Science Association (AMSA) and jointly funded by the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service and by producers through their beef and pork checkoffs. The internship is offered yearly with AMSA coordinating the application process and USMEF finalizing and placing candidates in international offices.

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, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –