USDA proposes to allow imports of Chilean meats

USDA proposes to allow imports of Chilean meats    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has proposed to add Chile to its list of countries eligible to export meat products to the United States.
   The agency said its review of Chile’s laws and regulations demonstrate compliance with the U.S. Federal Meat Inspection Act. It added that Chilean meat shipments would still be subject to inspection once they arrive in the first U.S. port of entry.
   The USDA said the proposed rule supports U.S. trade initiatives and its own policy to liberalize agricultural trade with Chile and honors the U.S. government’s obligations to the World Trade Organization.
   According to the USDA, the United States annually imports about 14 million metric tons of meat products, valued at $4.2 billion. These amounts are expected to increase to 17 billion metric tons, worth about $5.1 billion, by 2011.
   The USDA said several Chilean firms are able to ship meat — largely beef, pork and lamb — to the United States. The exports would consist of an estimated 600 metric tons of bone-in and boneless beef valued at $1.8 million; an estimated 500 metric tons of bone-in pork cuts valued at $2.65 million; and about 500 metric tons of lamb carcasses, carcass halves, and quarters, valued at $1.5 million.
   “Listing Chile as eligible to export meat to the United States would therefore add a very small portion to total U.S. meat imports,” the agency said. “The additional product shipments are likely to have only a slight effect on the agency’s assignment of import inspection resources at points of entry on the East and West Coasts.”
   The Food Safety and Inspection Service will take comments on the proposed rule through July 11. For more information, contact Sally White of the USDA’s Office of International Affairs in Washington at (202) 720-6400.