The cost of the recent pseudorabies finding in Iowa cost U.S. exporters $7 million each week the Mexico border was closed to U.S. pork offal products, says the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
Although some offal shipments to Mexico have resumed, restrictions on product from Iowa and Texas remain in place and source verification requirements create obstacles for shipments from other states, USMEF reports.
Rigoberto Treviño, U.S. Meat Export Federation’s Mexico trade manager, says customers in Mexico are being negatively impacted. Not only is the limited availability of U.S. pork offal products frustrating to U.S. exporters, but it’s also frustrating to Mexican retailers, restaurants and consumers who have come to rely on the product, he points out.
Treviño says the cost for some offal products such as pork uterus has doubled, and that comes as USMEF has seen success building demand for variety meats across Mexico through programs like Cantina Vibes, which trains chefs and restaurateurs how to make affordable tacos, carnitas and other casual dining dishes using a wide range of U.S. pork offal items.
“Pork offals and variety meats are very important in the Mexican market,” he explains. “Most of the time, when you talk about variety meats, the answer is going to be always tacos. So, carnitas are very important in Mexico, for example pork snout, pork ear, pork stomach, etc.”
The World Organization for Animal Health recently certified that the pseudorabies virus finding in five boars in Iowa was an isolated event and that it has been successfully contained. USMEF representatives continue to share this message with U.S. trade officials as they work to remove the remaining Mexican trade restrictions on U.S. pork offal products.
