U.S. begins importing Uruguay’s all-natural, NE3-certified beef

Uruguay is the only foreign country to receive the United State Department of Agriculture’s “Never Ever 3” certification, which requires an open range production system, without the use of antibiotics, growth promoters or animal by-products.    Business leaders and government officials from Uruguay and the United States gathered at The Union League of Philadelphia last Thursday to introduce the importation of Uruguay’s all-natural, “Never Ever 3” (NE3)-certified beef into the U.S, Holt Logistics said in a statement.
   Uruguay is the only foreign country to receive this certification from the United States Department of Agriculture.
   The NE3 certification requires an open range production system, without the use of antibiotics, growth promoters or animal by-products.
   The Port of Philadelphia will receive shipments of Uruguay’s NE3-certified beef. The Uruguayan delegation is optimistic the beef will be well received in the Delaware Valley region and throughout the United States, given Philadelphia’s restaurant boom and concerns regarding the health of processed meats.
   “There is perhaps no other country in the world that embodies sustainable agriculture more than Uruguay,” National Meat Institute of Uruguay Chairman Federico Stanham said of the program. “Our national traceability system ensures our animal products are of the highest quality and can be traced literally from the U.S. consumers table all the way back to the farm of origin in Uruguay. We are pleased to expand the supply of certified all-natural beef to the US market.”