THE GOVERNMENT WILL soon discover whether the Irish beef industry reaches quality standards required to export to China.
Minister for Agriculture, the Marine, and Food Simon Coveney has confirmed that a group of Chinese officials visited laboratories, meat plants, rendering plants, cattle farms and a feed mill over the course of ten days in December.
“My Department is currently awaiting the report of the visit,” the Minister said in response to a parliamentary question from Independent TD Terence Flanagan.
Earlier this month, Ireland became the first EU country to be granted permission to sell beef to the US market in more than a decade.
Both China and the United States banned imports of beef from the EU in 2000 following the outbreak of BSE, or mad cow disease.
Minister Coveney added:
My Department and the Irish Embassy in Beijing will continue to engage with the Chinese authorities in order to progress this matter with a view to obtaining access to the Chinese market for Irish beef in the near future.
Minister Coveney has said Irish beef exports to the United States could be worth €100 million this year.
The Chinese beef market is slightly larger than the United States’s, valued at around €50 billion.
China was Ireland’s second-biggest market for dairy last year with food and drink exports to the world’s most populous nation worth over €500 million for the first time.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say