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Technical Services Briefs USMEF Members on Broad Range of Team’s Functions

Published: Nov 13, 2015

While many exporters work with USMEF Technical Services on a regular basis, other USMEF members are less familiar with the department’s responsibilities. For this reason, Technical Services staffers presented an overview of their various functions and responsibilities at the recent USMEF Strategic Planning Conference in Tucson, Arizona.

The session gave all members a better understanding of the team’s efforts to keep U.S. beef, pork, lamb and bison moving to key destinations and to assist members who encounter trade obstacles.

Paul Clayton, USMEF senior vice president for export services, was joined on the panel by Travis Arp, technical services manager for Asia and the Middle East, and Cheyenne McEndaffer, technical services manager for Europe, Russia, Western Hemisphere markets and Sub-Saharan Africa.

USMEF Technical Services team members (left to right) Travis Arp, Cheyenne McEndaffer and Paul Clayton during the USMEF Strategic Planning Conference in Tucson, Arizona

Clayton explained the various functions of Technical Services and how its work has evolved and expanded over many years. He noted that one of its most critical responsibilities is to monitor changes to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Export Library, which outlines the requirements for shipping eligible U.S. beef, pork, lamb and bison products to individual countries. Changes to the Export Library are not always easy to decipher, so the team explains them in detail through constant communication with USDA, regular email bulletins to exporters and guidance documents posted to the USMEF website.

McEndaffer discussed a number of areas in which the team works to ensure smooth movement of U.S. product into international markets. This includes working with customs and food safety officials responsible for clearing shipments at the port of entry, in order to avoid shipment rejections or delays. She noted that USMEF also works with U.S. trade officials to provide input on regulatory proposals that could be problematic for U.S. exporters – such as a proposal in Chile to incorporate cattle breed designations into the grading requirements.

“Chile already has some rather onerous labeling requirements, and this would have created additional costs for U.S. suppliers because of the cattle and product segregation it would involve,” McEndaffer explained.

Chilean officials were somewhat receptive to feedback, but remarked that they were “only hearing from the U.S.” about the problems the proposal would create. So USMEF worked with the U.S. government and industry associations from other exporting countries – including Colombia and Brazil – to send further feedback to Chile.

Arp focused mainly on the team’s educational efforts, which include working with international buyers to show them how U.S. meat can improve the quality of their products and enhance the profitability of their businesses. He gave several examples of in-country seminars in which meat processors were educated on the attributes of U.S. raw materials and shown the product quality and consistency advantages they deliver. Technical visits to the United States by international buyers and government officials have also proven valuable in both established markets and smaller, emerging destinations. Arp cited the example of a Sri Lankan veterinary team that came to the U.S. in 2014.

“The market potential isn’t necessarily huge in Sri Lanka, but we lacked access in what could be a potential market for one of our members,” he explained. “So we brought this team to the United States and they visited processing plants, cow-calf operations and feedlots. We spoke to them about the U.S. production model and production system, and that was very meaningful in the U.S. gaining access to Sri Lanka. And even if it’s only 500 metric tons of new business, that’s an opportunity for a U.S. company to capitalize on.”

Arp also discussed the role the technical services team has played as the U.S. seeks to resume lamb exports to Taiwan and Japan. Both countries closed to U.S. lamb following the December 2003 BSE case, but Arp noted that the U.S. appears to be close to regaining access. Once that happens, educating buyers about the high-quality attributes of U.S. lamb will be an essential part of the industry’s effort to develop new business opportunities.

Steve Isaf, president of Interra International and a past chair of USMEF, praised the work of the technical services team members and encouraged other USMEF members to become more familiar with the assistance they provide.

“As an exporter who is an independent business person, I want to express how much Interra appreciates the work of this department and how they interact with us and help us with things that we would not have the resources to do on our own,” Isaf said. “So on behalf of all the exporters here, I just want to say thank you.”