Mexico has lifted all remaining pseudorabies-related restrictions on U.S. pork offal, reopening an important export market and relieving a costly bottleneck for the pork industry. The restrictions had been in place since late April after PRV was detected in five Iowa boars and were costing U.S. exporters an estimated $6-7 million per week in lost sales. USMEF Vice President of Economic Analysis, Erin Borror, says the move clears the way for both new shipments and product that has been backed up in the export pipeline.
Colombia, Chile and South Korea have also removed PRV-related trade barriers, but challenges remain in China, where 100% testing requirements for U.S. pork offal continue to delay shipments and add significant costs for exporters. This is what Aaron Boer had to say, “We had communicated repeatedly to U.S. government to make sure that they understood that it was essential for these quote-unquote pipeline products to be able to be exported to Mexico.”
Borror Also added, “The really good news was that when Mexico lifted the restrictions, it was a clean lifting of those restrictions. And we greatly appreciate the efforts across USDA and of course led by APHIS since these are animal health issues. We’ve had actually a string of good news since the beginning of July, effectively, where Colombia lifted their restrictions and there are a handful of others, Korea, Chile, where there were some limited offal restrictions that have also been eliminated.”
“A couple other countries with certificate language that should likely also be updated soon and we can put this whole chapter behind us,” added Borror.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.