China will only be able to process chicken that's been slaughtered in certified countries. | REUTERS Audit OKs Chinese poultry plants

U.S. officials have given the thumbs-up to four Chinese poultry plants, paving the way for the country to send processed chicken to American markets, according to audit reports obtained by POLITICO.

The audit reports expected to be made public Friday show that the Chinese processing plants passed U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections performed in March and the positive results make it likely the foreign producers soon will become eligible to export to the U.S.


According to the audit, at first, China will only be able to process chicken that has been slaughtered in the U.S. or other certified countries.

“As all outstanding issues have been resolved, [China] may proceed with certifying a list of poultry processing establishments as meeting [Food Safety and Inspection Service] requirements,” says a letter signed by Andreas Keller, director of international equivalence staff.

The USDA’s efforts to clear China to ship chicken to the U.S. were put on hold for years by lawmakers worried about deadly bird flu outbreaks and other Chinese food safety issues. New outbreaks of bird flu have erupted this year in China, causing human illness and death.

( Also on POLITICO: USDA trip moves U.S. closer to accepting Chinese chicken)

The department also has rejected a food safety advocacy group’s petition to ban China from shipping any chicken to the U.S.

Food and Water Watch argued in the petition that Chinese food safety measures are not up to U.S. standards and that U.S. officials are influenced by desires to prod China into lifting restrictions on U.S. beef shipments, but the USDA rejected those charges in a letter dated Aug. 30.

Food and Water Watch’s petition, USDA said, “does not contain evidence to demonstrate that [China] should be removed from the list of countries eligible to export processed poultry products to the United States.”

( Also on POLITICO: Commerce slaps foreign shrimpers with taxes)

In a statement issued Friday, the group’s executive director Wenonah Hauter took a shot at USDA for posting the audit just before a holiday weekend and maintained that the audit was driven by opening up Chinese markets to U.S. beef.

“It’s common practice for government agencies to release information they hope to sneak past consumers on Friday afternoons before a holiday weekend,” she said.

“It has been no secret that China has wanted to export chicken to the U.S. in exchange for reopening its market for beef from the U.S. that has been closed since 2003 due to the diagnosis of a cow in Washington State with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. Today’s audit report reveals yet again that USDA is willing to allow trade to trump food safety.”

China’s beef imports have skyrocketed in recent months, but the U.S. continues to be shut out of the market.

( Also on POLITICO: Anti-trade-pact ammunition: Vietnamese child labor)

China imported 134,901 metric tons of beef in the first half of this year, up 931 percent from the first half of last year, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation. China is getting most of its beef imports from Australia and Uruguay, but New Zealand and Canada are also exporting to China.

“Beef prices in China are about 30 percent higher than a year ago and have increased 60 percent since July, 2011, indicating tight domestic supplies and a growing need for imported product,” according to a report compiled by the trade group.

The U.S. has been excluded from the Chinese beef market since 2003 when mad cow disease was first found in a cow in the U.S.

China also slapped steep tariffs on U.S. chicken shipments in 2010 after the country claimed that the U.S. was unfairly selling its chicken in China at prices below market value.

The tariffs cut off 80 percent of U.S. chicken exports to China. The World Trade Organization ruled in July that the tariffs were unjustified. It remains unclear if China will abide by the ruling or appeal.

( Also on POLITICO: Meat packers: Labels throw industry down ‘rabbit hole’)

The poultry industry was careful to not express a great deal of enthusiasm in response to Friday’s news.

“I’m cautiously optimistic this is good news for our industry,” said Toby Moore, a spokesman for the U.S.A. Poultry and Egg Export Council.

National Chicken Council Senior Vice President Bill Roenigk previously told POLITICO that USDA has repeatedly told the group it will ensure the Chinese-processed chicken will be safe.

“We have a concern about safety. But we’ve been assured and reassured by USDA that they will do 100 percent testing on poultry products from China,” he said.

“We have confidence that USDA will do that testing and do it in a good and adequate manner. Also, at least initially, the chicken that comes from China will actually be U.S. chicken. That’s the first stage in the approval process. Now whether the economics of that works or not that remains to be seen.”

But food-safety advocates aren’t comforted by USDA’s assurances. Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.) called USDA’s decision to green light four plants “deeply worrisome to American consumers.”

“The audit released today erases neither the fact that past inspections revealed unsanitary conditions at China’s poultry processing plants nor the fact that U.S. inspectors will not be onsite at these plants going forward to ensure the exported products are safe…. Sadly, business interests, which are currently also attacking country-of-origin labeling so consumers do not even know where the meat they are consuming is coming from, are trumping the public interest,” De Lauro said in a statement.

This article tagged under: China

Exports

Poultry

Politics

Commerce