Russia Approves Three U.S. Beef Companies For Export

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Wednesday that Russia has added three more U.S. meatpacking facilities to its list of eligible U.S. exporters.

According to the FSIS Web site, a Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Emporia, Kan., and two Omaha, Neb.-based Greater Omaha Packing facilities, one a slaughterhouse and one a cutting/storage plant, can now export to Russia beef produced on or after Jan. 11.

"This is the first time these plants are approved for export to Russia," FSIS spokeswoman Amanda Eamich told Meatingplace.com.

Russia was the fifth-largest export market for U.S. beef at the end of 2003, when it closed due to the discovery of the first U.S. case of bovine spongiform encephalopthy. A bilateral trade agreement signed in November 2006 technically provided access for both boneless and bone-in beef, as well as beef variety meat, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

But it wasn't until a year later that U.S. meatpackers actually sold beef to Russia, in what industry leaders regarded as a major breakthrough. (See U.S. resumes beef trade with Russia: NCBA on Meatingplace.com, Dec. 11, 2007.)

Source: Tom Johnston on 1/16/2008 for Meatingplace.com