US pork council NPPC discusses FTA with Colombia
Nick Giordano, vice president and counsel for international affairs for the US National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) had a meeting in Colombia recently, together with US and Colombian government officials.
Topic of discussions was the implementation of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and market access for US pork exports, the US Pork Network reports.
The American pork council is working to get the FTA implemented very soon but is concerned about Colombia’s current trade restrictive trichinae requirements. Colombia currently requires that the USA freeze pork as a mitigation against trichinae, despite the negligible risk of trichinosis in the US commercial herd.
Trichinae
Dr Ray Gamble, president of the International Commission on Trichinellosis, said that the odds of trichinae in the US commercial pork supply is one in 300 million. This is well within the range of negligible risk, which is defined by the European Union as one in one million.
NPPC say that Colombia’s trichinae mitigation requirement should be removed from the export certification before the final implementation of the trade deal.
Estimates
Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes estimated that the full implementation of the US-Colombia FTA would generate an additional $68.9 million in US pork exports. In addition, 919 direct US pork industry jobs would be created while live US hog prices would rise by $1.15.
Recently, US Congress ratified the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement after years of apparent hesitation.
Related website:
• National Pork Producers Council
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