USMEF-Mexico recently joined forces and resources with the California Wine In...

Published: Jul 01, 2005

USMEF-Mexico recently joined forces and resources with the California Wine Institute (CWI) to hold an umami seminar and dinner for 75 distributors, chefs, and U.S. Embassy personnel in the Mexican coastal resort of Los Cabos, in Baja California.

As part of an ongoing program to attract more industry clients through a strategic alliance with the CWI, USMEF-Mexico Chef Salvador Sevilla explained to attendees how to discover the fifth flavor, umami in Japanese, in different food and drink combinations. A CWI sommelier told attendees how umami comes to full flavor by choosing the right Californian wine for the right U.S. meat cut.

The alliance fits with USMEF’s strategic goal to educate the media and industry trend setters on the benefits of trade and the quality attributes of U.S. beef and pork. USMEF-Mexico, the CWI and the U.S. Dairy Council plan to put together an agenda of joint promotions by November. The seminar gave USMEF Food Service Manager, Adriana Cadena, an ideal opportunity to promote the upcoming USMEF Chef Contest, which has become a focal point for Mexico’s chefs. She talked about the featured cuts, the event itself and the award.

“This partnership opens a new window of opportunity for all three organizations by combining efforts to reach a wider audience while optimizing resources to the benefit of our shareholders,” commented Cadena.

Seminar attendees enjoyed the following U.S. cuts:

Beef tri-tip, boneless short ribs
Pork chops and tenderloins
Lamb marinated legs

Mexico led U.S. pork exports to a 14th-consecutive record setting year in 2004. Over 361,000 mt of U.S. pork and pork variety meat were exported to Mexico last year valued at $567 million. So far this year (Jan.-Apr.), the United States has exported 103,058 metric tons of pork and pork variety meat valued at $159 million.

Mexico is currently the No. 1 market for U.S. beef exports. The U.S. exported 76,639 metric tons ($236 million) of U.S. beef and beef variety meat in the first four months of 2005.

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 –