Meat exports: Protecting our position

Lack of a comprehensive system for livestock traceability has not yet hurt U.S. meat exports, but could cause lost market share in the future, says meat-industry consultant Marcine Muldenhauer.

Many in the industry know Muldenhauer from her 22 years with Cargill Meat Solutions. She now owns her own consulting business, MeatLink Management, LLC, focusing on strategic business development, marketing and new-product development. She discussed export markets at the National Institute for Animal Agriculture annual conference this week.

Muldenhauer says common expectations for farm-to-fork traceability are emerging both internationally and domestically, but the process is not well defined. Currently, she says, World Trade Organization rules state that importing countries cannot demand more traceability from exporters than they have in place domestically. While some countries such as Canada and Australia are well ahead of us in traceability, many of our export customers are not, so the rule tends to work in our favor. But as our competitors make gains in traceability, they could threaten our export market share.

Canada, she notes, continues to improve their ID and traceability program, and in spite of a higher incidence of BSE, beat the United States back into the Japanese market. Australia, which is BSE-free, has a formal ID system and competes in international markets. Brazil, with substantial beef production, has zones classed as free of foot-and-mouth disease, with traceability. Quality differences provide an advantage for U.S. beef in Asian markets, but Brazil is making inroads.

To assess U.S. positioning, Muldenhauer worked with food-industry representatives to conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and Threats) analysis of our international marketability. The group identified the following:

Strengths

• Past reputation for a sound animal-health system.
• Wholesome food-safety system and process.
• Active member of global organizations such as WTO, OIE and CODEX.

Weaknesses

• No formal ID or tracking system.
• Considerable livestock movement.
• Inconsistent messages and capabilities between industry and government.
• Cost of traceability versus other countries.
• Lack of consistent use of technologies.

Opportunities

• Packers have 30 or more Export Verification programs they can choose to use, each with different requirements.
• Emerging global markets and improving standards of living.
• The United States could provide leadership in traceability standards.
• The first supplier in a market can establish value for traceability.
• Vertical sharing of critical information.

Threats

• Other countries’ willingness to focus on meeting new market traceability needs.
• Potential for a foreign animal-disease situation in the United States that is not traceable or controlled quickly.

Addressing the long-term outlook for U.S. meat trade, Muldenhauer says food companies express concern that we could lose consumer confidence and our global leadership status without uniform traceability. The timeline to catch up with other countries becomes longer as their lead in traceability grows, and financial opportunities are lost. If limited to a domestic market, our meat industry would be significantly constrained. It is possible, she says, that someday the industry could shift to U.S. feeder calves being exported to the north, as Canada becomes dominant in beef exports.