Chilled, Dry-Aged U.S. Beef Focus of Seminars in Southern China
Focusing on helping importers and distributors introduce U.S. chilled beef and dry-aged beef to clients in southern China, USMEF conducted “Better Utilization of U.S. Red Meat” seminars for professionals in the region’s hotel, restaurant and institutional (HRI) sector. Funded by the Beef Checkoff Program, the seminars were held in Guangzhou for 40 HRI clients of Bester Foods and in Shenzhen for 20 HRI clients of PMI Foods. USMEF is a subcontractor of the Beef Checkoff.
As HRI professionals look on, chefs prepare U.S. beef for a special dry-aged beef dinner at a USMEF seminar in Guangzhou, China
“The importers are very interested in introducing their existing customers, as well as potential customers, to new products – and they want to generate more interest in the dry-aging of U.S. beef cuts,” said Ming Liang, USMEF marketing director in China.
The USMEF seminar in Shenzhen included cooking demonstrations, a tasting session and an overview of the advantages of U.S. beef
Liang noted that Bester and PMI have been offering U.S. chilled beef since China reopened to U.S. beef in 2017. He said both companies want to greatly expand sales of chilled product once import tariffs on U.S. beef return to normal. U.S. beef currently faces retaliatory duties in China totaling 35%, raising the total tariff rate to 47% - nearly four times higher than the standard 12% rate.
At the U.S. beef seminar in Guangzhou, USMEF offered a U.S. dry-aged beef dinner prepared in the Bester demonstration kitchen. A USMEF chef presented cooked dry-aged boneless ribeye, wet-aged boneless ribeye and T-bone. The chef also shared his experiences dry-aging beef in Taiwan.
At the seminar in Shenzhen, the same U.S. beef cuts were served at a special lunch that doubled as an educational session. Dry-aging and wet-aging demonstrations and tastings were conducted, with U.S. beef ribeye as the featured cut. A PMI client shared his positive experiences using frozen U.S. beef to make dry-aged cuts.