Argentina. The country conjures images of rancheros on
horseback herding cattle across sweeping grasslands, but Argentina means
something quite different to the American Pork Industry. For the last few
years’ excessive tariffs (15%) on local beef production dropped Argentina from
the third largest beef producer, to the tenth (Schuele, 2016) . This change meant that the local
population was eating more beef and minimal imported meat products such as
chicken and pork.
Today, Argentina is looking towards new regulatory practices
under the leadership of President Mauricio Macri. President Macri is pro-trade,
with an interest in promoting exportation of agricultural products like beef,
and importing alternative meat sources such as pork. Hoping to “rebuild cattle
supplies and beef production, Macri axed the export tax and allowed the peso to
depreciate by more than 40%” making it more profitable for the cattle industry
to sell abroad and domestically. This caused a recessive economy because prices
for beef jumped up 50% in the space of four months (Newbery, 2016) and led to a demand for cheaper meats,
predominantly chicken and pork, consumption of which increased from 20kg to 47kg
for chicken and from 6kg to 15kg for pork [per person] since 2002 (Newbery, 2016) .
“’I’ve gone from not even stocking pork ribs to selling
100kg per week,” Méndez says (Newbery, 2016) .
Traditionally a beef eating nation, Argentineans have
started looking at new foods, buying cheaper cuts, and experimenting with
recipes from abroad. One would think that this would open up doors to foreign
suppliers, but importation policies are hampering the transition. “Currently,
fresh, frozen and processed U.S. pork are ineligible to be shipped to Argentina
because of unscientific mitigation requirements and other sanitary issues that
are not based on science” (National Pork Producers Council,
n.d.) .
These ‘unscientific’ regulations include “an audit of U.S.
plants … by the Argentine sanitary authorities to evaluate the U.S. sanitary
status and manufacturing controls of pork meat and meat processing” (Balbi, 2016) . One would think that
checking the quality control of meat coming in and out of a country would be
considered a good thing, but the regulation is a political and logistical
nightmare. Basically, the Argentinian government wanted access to every pork
production house in the U.S. to inspect them, which is non-feasible as “[a]ccording
to NASS [USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service], as of January 1,
2015, there are…2,770 slaughterhouses in existence around the country” (Kennedy Esq., 2016) .
A counter-offer has been proposed by the U.S. which would
include Argentina under the U.S.’s Generalized Systems of Preferences (GSP),
which is “designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by
providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129
designated beneficiary countries and territories” (Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), n.d.) , and utilize a
special export certificate in order to export pork which, for the last 10 years,
the U.S. has been the number one exporter of. Being able to increase pork
production to Argentina would open a new market for our producers to South
America’s third largest economy.
Critics of the U.S. food industry may well be on board with
Argentina’s wanting to look things over themselves, however. In 2015, the Government
Accountability Project (a ‘whistleblower protection organization’) stated that
several USDA inspectors following up on a pilot program in five major hog
slaughterhouses believe we are “moving too fast…to adequately address
contamination and food safety concerns” (Gillam, 2015) . The pilot program is “engineered…to
speed up lines while improving food safety and trim inspection costs” (Gillam, 2015) . They allege that
the program, which allows the producers to do more of the inspection oversight
of the pre-and post-slaughter inspections, also allows for an increase in
salmonella, cystic kidney, and bladder stem contamination (Gillam, 2015) .
Even if the pilot program falls to the wayside there are
other concerns. That same year China declared U.S. pork unfit to eat. A drug
approved by the FDA named Ractopamine is on a banned list in more than 200
countries, including China, which is the world’s number one importer of pork. The
drug changes how much feed is required for a pig to produce muscle, which
creates a lean meat on heavier carcasses. The problem is that a large number of
pigs die or have adverse effects like seizures and hoof disorders when fed the
drug orally according to a FDA
report (Jitchotvisut, 2015) .
With these as issues, it’s no wonder that Argentina balks at
our pork. An open market is a great idea, it allows food to pass from one
country to another without financially destroying either agency, but one must
ask oneself, is money really worth our health or the health of the world?
References
Balbi, M. J. (2016). Argentina Food and
Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards - FAIRS Country Report.
USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from
http://agriexchange.apeda.gov.in/IR_Standards/Import_Regulation/Food%20and%20Agricultural%20Import%20Regulations%20and%20Standards%20%20NarrativeBuenos%20AiresArgentina2102016.pdf
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2017, from U.S. Customs
and Border Protection:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/266/~/generalized-system-of-preferences-(gsp)
Gillam, C. (2015, January 30). U.S. pork plant
program draws criticism, Hormel petition. Retrieved from Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-pork-foodsafety-idUSL1N0V91JR20150130
Jitchotvisut, J. (2015, August 12). China Doesn't
Want America's Pork Because U.S. Pigs Are Being Pumped With Ractopamine.
Retrieved from
http://firstwefeast.com/eat/2015/08/chinas-doesnt-want-americas-pork-because-u-s-pigs-are-being-pumped-with-ractopamine
Kennedy Esq., P. (2016, February 26). Slaughterhouse
Shortage in the U.S. Retrieved from Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund:
https://www.farmtoconsumer.org/blog/2016/02/26/slaughterhouse-shortage-in-the-u-s/
National Pork Producers Council. (n.d.). Pork
Issues: International: Argentina. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from National
Pork Producers Council: http://nppc.org/issues/issue/argentina/
Newbery, C. (2016, April 28). Argentines turn to
chicken and pork as beef prices soar. Retrieved from Global Meat News:
http://www.globalmeatnews.com/Industry-Markets/Argentines-turn-to-chicken-and-pork-as-beef-prices-soar
Schuele, J. (2016, January 4). Argentina to revive
beef exports, bolster producer profitability. Retrieved from Beef
Magazine:
http://www.beefmagazine.com/beef-exports/argentina-revive-beef-exports-bolster-producer-profitability
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