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last update:Oct 28, 2008
NPPC wants Mexican pig industry review
After meetings with Mexican government officials on
market access issues, the National Pork Producers Council urged the US
government to make a top priority completion of risk assessments for Classical
Swine Fever in a number of Mexican states.
Disease-free status
On behalf of its pork producers,
Mexican officials in Washington raised concerns about reciprocal market access
to the US pork market because some Mexican states have yet to be declared
disease-free by the US Department of Agriculture. The Mexican government has
said the states are free of Classical Swine Fever, or hog cholera, a highly
contagious viral disease of pigs.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has cleared a number of Mexican states and is conducting risk
assessments on eight others that have pork operations.
“NPPC supports a
science-based decision regarding the importation of Mexican pork and pork
products into the United States, and we have urged APHIS to make completion of
its risk assessments for the remaining Mexican states a high priority,” said
NPPC President Bryan Black, a pork producer from Canal Winchester, Ohio. “We
also have urged APHIS to quickly begin the rule-making process to allow Mexican
pork imports once the risk assessments have been completed.”
No.3
destination
In 2007, Mexico exported $34.5 million of pork products
to the United States, while the US shipped nearly $450 million of pork to
Mexico, making the country the No. 3 destination for US pork. Through August of
this year US pork exports to Mexico were $417 million.
NPPC is a
consistent and strong supporter of the North American Free Trade Agreement and
supports science-based decisions related to international animal health and food
safety issues.
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