In less than two months the producers of bovine meat from the Dominican Republic completed their process inspection and adaptation of centers to start export meat of raw beef and its derivative products to the United States (USA), after 25 years of having lost the opportunity to maintain exports to that market.
Yesterday, sector executives reported that the first shipment of raw meat had already been made: some 40,000 pounds that can be used to prepare hamburgers, one of the areas with the greatest demand in the American country, indicated Eric Rivero, government advisor on agricultural matters.
The information was detailed to members of the press who participated in a Christmas meeting with representatives of the livestock sector, who gave a report on the performance of the different productive areas.
Why couldn’t the RD export beef?
Dominican Republic it was not banned by the United States to export meat and its derivatives. The missed opportunity of that market occurred because local trade was more attractive to producers.
In 1997, the United States put into force the Regulations of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, with rules and processes for quality, requirements for which Dominicans they were not preparedindicates a historical account published on the web portal of the Program for Strengthening the Value Chain of Dominican Livestock (Progana).
The wait to be able to comply with the standards established by the Americans was 25 years and its certification process began in 2017 with the filling out of a form on the handling of meat.
In 2019, the United States approved the information provided two years earlier. It was not until 2020 what authorized shipment of the first supervision team, a visit that was postponed for reasons of COVID-19 and resumed in September 2021.
The conquest of the sector was completed with a final report which gave way to the certification issued in April 2022.
The process for the country to be able to export again accelerated from the April 29when the United States Department of Agriculture granted eligibility to the Dominican Republic to export.
One of the first steps, exhausted by the US authorities, was to establish in Dominican territory a team from the Food Inspection and Safety Service, which visited the processing centers to determine the quality in it driving of the product.
By June of this year, the inspectors had already completed the process, certifying what Dominican Republic was fit for export. The preparations included the process of transferring the meat, maintenance of the cold chain and the management protocol for packaging, according to information from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Comply with the conditions and quality to establish the brand export strategy a milestone in the agricultural sector and, at the same time, constitutes a challenge for producers, who must have the capacity to produce the consumer demand of US companies, Rivero said.
During the meeting, the president of the National Council for the Regulation and Promotion of the Dairy Industry (Conaleche), Miguel Laureano, specified that four companies are positioned in the United States with exports of dairy products. nationally produced cheese
