DUBLIN: Some 1,800t of Irish beef was exported to the US to date this year, but no manufacturing beef was included, which accounts for 90% of US imports.
Speaking at the Gain Feeds and Merial beef finishing event in Kilkenny this morning, Joe Burke, beef and livestock sector manager with Bord Bia, said that although 1,800t of Irish beef was exported to the US by the end of quarter three in 2016, manufacturing or mince meat has yet to enter the country.
Ireland got clearance for manufacturing beef to go to the US in July 2016, but Irish beef processors are facing stringent tests before accessing this market. The US usually requires carcases to be washed with lactic acid, but Ireland has negotiated a system which avoids this practice.
Instead, a raft of new testing is being deployed to determine “baseline levels” for E-coli and SPEC in carcases. Processors will have to carry out these tests over a period of a few weeks at a time.
