USMEF Visits U.S. Packers Researching New Alternative Cuts For Export
U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) representatives will visit with U.S. packers this week to identify beef and pork “alternative cuts or items” and determine if these cuts can have added value, primarily through packaging, for export to Latin America.
Ricardo Vernazza-Paganini, USMEF director Central and South America, and Kevin Smith, USMEF assistant director of export services, are scheduled to meet with U.S. packers to discuss and gather information related to alternative meat cuts.
“One of the key export products to the region has been pork and beef variety meat,” said Vernazza-Paganini. “While variety meat is low in demand and price in the U.S.market, these products are largely consumed by Central and South American consumers. Therefore, we understand there is an opportunity to increase the margins of these low-value commodities.”
Latin America now accounts for less than 2 percent of all beef and pork exports from the United States. This leaves U.S. companies uninspired to produce products specifically tailored for the Latin America market, according to Vernazza-Paganini.
“We want to raise the level of awareness of this market by visiting packers and investigating the potential for targeting this market with cuts that may be left over after packers have shipped cuts specific to other markets,” said Smith.
Pictures, specification and general information of the alternative items will be gathered on the trip and then presented to importers in Latin America to show potential buyers the variety of U.S. products available.
“U.S. packers tend to approach the Latin American market by selling products that cannot be sold domestically or to other high-value markets,” said Vernazza-Paganini. “Therefore, the alternative cut items can be more valuable if sold in this region.”
According to Vernazza-Paganini, many U.S. supermarket chains demand pork tenderloin of a consistent shape, size and weight. Producing products to meet these specifications, U.S. packers must find new markets for left over tenderloin tips.
An additional trip is scheduled this fall for USMEF to visit importers in Latin American countries and share information on the U.S. visits. Upon return, an analysis of the collected information from both trips will be discussed and possibilities regarding new product development will begin.
After these steps have been taken, USMEF plans to organize seminars for U.S. packers in the spring of 2007 as a way of sharing the findings and product ideas generated from the meetings.
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 –