December 16, 2020
IARN Leaders of the US Meat Export Federation believe new regulatory changes in Egypt are an important development for the US beef industry.
Egypt is the largest destination for US beef liver exports and one of the largest for other beef variety meat items. Travis Arp, USMEF senior director of export services and access, says the Egyptian National Food Safety Authority has established maximum residue limits for certain veterinary drugs.
“The issue of zero tolerance on residues of veterinary drugs like ractopamine and synthetic hormones goes all the way back to 2014-2015,” Arp said. “These were standards the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Veterinary Service had on the books for a long time, but the government started enforcing those standards to a much higher degree than they previously had. We started seeing quite a few rejections of shipments of US liver. Because of that, it really interrupted the commercial business in Egypt.”